George Michael

George Michael: Outed documentary director Michael Ogden talks about why it was important to tell the music legend's coming out story.

I hope they go some way to helping people understand how it must have been for George and the trauma it creates to have a profound element of who you are splashed across the headlines, disclosed in a way that is not your choice." I think he was stunned by the language used - the shaming of George, the lecturing of him, the triumphalism in the idea of George’s downfall. George taught us not to be ashamed." "I hadn’t come out at the time and was terrified and unsure what to do. What elements were important to you in making sure you told George’s story the right way? In 1998, George decided to take control of his own story and sat down with Jim Moret on CNN.

George Michael's cousin Andros Georgiou is convinced that a curse was placed on the family, leading to the deaths of George, his mum, his sister and his ...

Of making his gut-wrenching discovery, he wrote on Instagram: "I decided to go and see if he was in... "I touched him, but he was cold. - was also found to be suffering from hypertensive heart disease, obesity and bronchopneumonia. That was his thing, he always used to say, 'What have I done?'" Andros Georgiou, cousin and close friend of George from childhood, told The Mirror he believes that such a cycle of tragedy must be down to a 'curse'. I was shaking him and saying, 'George, George' but he was dead." A source told The Sun: "She had been living as a recluse and only really went out to the hairdressers and post office and occasionally with her older sister Yioda. I could see that his right hand was up to his face, with his fist clenched, with his fingers curled against his cheek. And when George failed to come down from his room on Christmas Day, Fadi said he presumed he was still avoiding him - until he noticed that the position of George's door hadn't changed. [fought for years to overcome his addictions](https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/george-michaels-haunting-new-track-20821947) - had died from heart disease and a fatty liver. "In terms of coming close to saying I don’t want to live, that would have been after my Mum died," he once told The Guardian. "I had this overwhelming feeling that the best was behind me.

Richard Madeley has opened up on his friendship with George Michael as he reflected on the last year of the singer's life.

"The friendship went on until, I'm sad to say, we all lost him to drugs," he continued. "[On a] Sunday, I'm cooking the lunch I go and open the front door and it was like. In 1998, two decades after forming Wham! "In they came and we just had this amazing six or seven hours conversation. Richard admitted he'd "never forgotten" that moment and it was the "beginning of a friendship" with the singer. Talking about his friendship with the icon, Richard recalled a "surreal" moment with the singer.

THE late George Michael and his school pal Andrew Ridgeley took over the globe in the 80s with their pop band Wham!.Together they sold millions of rec.

[sisters Melanie](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/626644/george-michael-sisters-yioda-melanie-panayiotou-funeral/) and Panayiota. [after his death on Christmas Day](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/356506/george-michael-cause-of-death/), legendary singer [George Michael was finally laid to rest](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/366214/when-is-george-michaels-funeral-what-was-the-singers-cause-of-death-and-who-will-inherit-his-fortune/) in North London, with Andrew among the guests. It’s difficult for everyone. It’s difficult for me. Even when George [Michael] comes to visit, he isn’t hassled.” He reportedly amassed more than £10 million in royalties from his Wham! [Daily Mirror](http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/george-michaels-bandmate-andrew-ridgeley-9907155) that the [delay of George’s funeral had been difficult](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/635207/distressed-andrew-ridgeley-opens-up-about-losing-wham-bandmate-george-michael-and-how-funeral-delay-is-difficult-for-everyone/). [a moving tribute to the star](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/627588/george-michaels-wham-co-star-andrew-ridgeley-gets-emotional-at-the-brit-awards-as-he-pays-tribute-to-his-former-bandmate-alongside-pepsi-shirlie/) at the 2017 BRIT Awards. [tweeted heartbroken tributes](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/350016/george-michaels-wham-co-star-andrew-ridgeley-pays-tribute-to-his-beloved-friend/) to his friend and former bandmate, using the nickname “Yog” (Yours Only George). He surfs, he plays golf. [Andrew and Keren had split up](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/1799042/whams-andrew-ridgeley-splits-from-bananramas-keren-woodward-for-a-second-time/). [Wham!](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/1686961/wham-george-michael-band-andrew/).

RICHARD Madeley revealed his surprise friendship with George Michael on today's Good Morning Britain.The broadcaster returned to the show today after.

and I turned round as the car door decided to close itself. He explained: "I was crouching down on a slope between my open car door... He said: "That Sunday, and I mean it was surreal, ding dong 1 o'clock, I'm cooking lunch, I take my pinny off go and open the front door, and it's like a Beatle on your doorstep. [Richard ](https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/richard-madeley/)explained how George anonymously donated £50,000 to a This Morning Christmas appeal he helped launch with wife Judy Finnigan. Then that Christmas Day came and we lost him." "And we just had this amazing six or seven hours of conversation.

Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley looked back on having lunch with pop star George Michael and the start of their "remarkable" friendship ...

"It was, it went on until, I'm sad to say, we all lost him to drugs," Richard candidly revealed. "It was about a year after he'd been outed, he was very comfortable with it. "One o'clock, I'm cooking lunch, take my pinny off, go and open the front door, it's like a Beatle on your doorstep, "It was awful, the last year, he wouldn't take calls, he wouldn't talk to people, he was having all these weird incidents, driving at three in the morning and crashing the car. He came in his leather jacket and his shades, with Kenny next to him, very good looking and in they came." He looked back on the moment and laughed, explaining that when George turned up to his house, it felt like there was "a Beatle on his doorstep".

In Channel 4's new documentary George Michael: Outed, the grim attitudes of the British press towards gay people in the '90s are laid bare.

[in the press about trans lives](https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/02/17/brianna-ghey-death-newspaper-coverage-trans-the-times/). You look at what’s happening with the [potential SNP leader](https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/02/24/snp-leadership-race-lgbtq-rights-culture-war/) in Scotland who didn’t agree with gay marriage. That was constantly in the air,” Ogden says. We were cognisant of that, and wanted to make sure that you didn’t feel this was just history, and that actually, this is a lesson for now. “I don’t feel any shame whatsoever,” he said unapologetically. The relevance is that nothing’s changed,” Ogden says. The documentary flashes forward to reels of recent headlines about attacks on queer people, and stars like “He was a pop star who was loved by teenage girls, you know? “I imagined being gay then it probably could have felt like you were at war because your very being is being questioned.” “And it’s all because George got his d**k out in a toilet. “It’s about the language used, isn’t it? But it also leaves a damning question: are things that much better today?

GEORGE Michael's death on Christmas Day 2026 left friends, family and fans around the world devastated.One person who felt an enormous lost when the s.

I think they did the same with [[Michael] Jackson](https://www.thesun.ie/who/michael-jackson/), didn’t they? [Amy [Winehouse]](https://www.thesun.ie/who/amy-winehouse/) had passed away, they put that album out, you know what I mean? George’s complete body of work is his body of work. "Our mothers’ sort of crossed prams in the street and that was when we met. Our mothers were best friends. [George](https://www.thesun.ie/tvandshowbiz/music/351587/george-michael-how-die-songs-boyfriend-fadi-fawaz/) was also close to the likes of Princess Diana and Kate Moss.

In April 1998 the pop singer was arrested by an undercover Beverly Hills police officer for engaging in a sexual act in a public toilet. He was fined £500 and ...

He also incorporated the incident into Outside the first song he released after his arrest. Samples of radio reports of his arrest were used within the song. [Wham!’s](https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/wham-last-christmas-number-first-time-thirty-six-years-815288?ico=in-line_link) former manager Simon Napier-Bell and the Rev Richard Coles, who recalls his experiences of being a gay man and a pop star in The Communards in 80s. [George Michael’s](https://inews.co.uk/topic/george-michael?ico=in-line_link) early career and explores the reasons he felt he had to remain in the closet (among them [Wham!’s](https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/wham-last-christmas-number-first-time-thirty-six-years-815288?ico=in-line_link) huge female fanbase). [Channel 4 ](https://inews.co.uk/topic/channel-4?ico=in-line_link)two-part documentary, [George Michael: Outed](https://inews.co.uk/culture/whats-on-tv-tonight-guide-listings-george-michael-outed-channel-4-2189917?ico=related_stories), we are taken through the story of how he responded to the potentially career-ending scandal and how it became a landmark moment in gay politics. [George Michael](https://inews.co.uk/topic/george-michael?ico=in-line_link) was arrested for engaging in a sexual act in a Los Angeles public toilet.

A new Channel 4 doc explores the media's glee at the singer's arrest for “lewd acts” in 1998. But in the war against the papers, victory was his.

But then I pictured George, up in the clouds with a cocktail in one hand and something else (no, I was thinking of a doobie – not that!) in the other, and I couldn’t help but feel happy. I always want to shout), or those who still take some weird pride in it – the incontinent Wallis; Bill Coles, a roaring Sloane who used to be the Sun’s New York correspondent; Stuart White, former US editor of the News of the World. Neil Wallis (a former deputy editor of News of the World) can say what he likes. But in the case of the band’s late singer, George Michael, I have, as they say, been on a journey. became famous in 1982 – following a last-minute performance of “Young Guns (Go for It)” on Top of the Pops, this happened more or less overnight – yours truly was unimpressed, and remained so for some time. I didn’t like the pastel sweaters and the tight white shorts; the words “Club Tropicana” made me think not of a cut-price Balearic island, but of a certain Sheffield nightclub: its plastic palms, its dance floor sticky with Martini Bianco.

DURING his life, George Michael was known for his close bond with his sister Melanie Panayiotou.In a sad turn of events, she died three years to the d.

[George](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/350568/george-michael-how-die-songs-boyfriend-fadi-fawaz/), Melanie died on Christmas Day. [Wham!](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/1686961/wham-george-michael-band-andrew/) singer had a successful solo career and sold more than 100 million records worldwide. [Melanie and older sister Yioda](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/626644/george-michael-sisters-yioda-melanie-panayiotou-funeral/). [Music icon George died aged 53](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/356506/george-michael-cause-of-death/), at home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, on December 25, 2016. [Melanie Panayiotou](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/5108355/george-michaels-sister-dead-melanie-panayiotou-dies-suddenly-aged-55-on-anniversary-of-his-death/) was a hairdresser and the sister of the late popstar George Michael. [she died three years to the day that her famous brother did](https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/5108355/george-michaels-sister-dead-melanie-panayiotou-dies-suddenly-aged-55-on-anniversary-of-his-death/).

Kenny Goss was George Michael's longest relationship, and were together for 13 years. Kenny founded a charity with the late singer, The Goss-Michael Foundation, ...

"I was worried about him all the time. "Honestly, he hated the fact that I worried about him so much. He was hard on me about drinking, because I developed a problem.” But who is Kenny Goss and when did the couple meet? This man has brought me a lot of joy and pain. He studied education and political science, and worked for Herkie Herkimer's Cheerleader Supply Co.

Wham! singer George Michael died on Christmas Day 2016, aged 53. He is the subject of Channel 4 documentary Outed which explores how he came out as a gay ...

Episodes will also be available to watch on All4 shortly after they are first broadcast. Following the arrest, Michael publicly came out as a gay man. [Kenny Goss](https://www.nationalworld.com/news/people/kenny-goss-who-is-george-michaels-ex-partner-what-did-he-say-about-former-wham-singer-3743479) in 1996, but it wasn’t until 1998 that his sexuality became public knowledge. In 2013 he fell from his moving car and suffered a head injury and had to be airlifted to hospital. Michael had also struggled with health issues including drug addiction throughout his life and was arrested twice on drug-related offences. [Outed](https://www.nationalworld.com/culture/television/screen-babble-weekend-watch-daisy-jones-and-the-six-creed-iii-dublin-narcos-george-michael-outed-4049929), which airs this week, explores how the singer’s sexuality was revealed in the [tabloid press](https://www.nationalworld.com/culture/television/wagspiracy-what-vardy-v-rooney-documentary-reveal-what-wagatha-christie-case-how-watch-tv-4001266) following his arrest, and how he responded to having that aspect of his life shared with the world.

Outed is a two-part documentary on Channel 4 about George Michael that has some exclusive audios of the late British singer.

George said he was followed by a man when he reached a toilet block in Beverly Hills and the same man (undercover police officer) arrested him in his car. The views expressed here are that of the respective authors/ entities and do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). [Kenny Goss](/topic/kenny-goss), the ex-partner of George tagged the singer as a tortured soul post-arrest during his later years. During his conversation with [Radio Times](/topic/radio-times), he recalled that from the moment he was arrested when they weren’t together, “there was always a little bit of me thinking, is he going to be ok?” George Michael: Outed is a documentary on the late British pop star that will thoroughly talk about the major happenings after he was accused of a public lewdness act. What happened after George's arrest?When George was brought into custody, officers were unaware of the fact that they were questioning an A-class celebrity.

A new documentary about the singer being outed is airing tonight at 9pm on Channel 4.

He was also arrested for possessing drugs in 2008, and briefly jailed in 2010 for driving under the influence of drugs. George was born to a dancer mum and a Greek-Cypriot restaurateur dad in 1963. The documentary covers how journalists at the time were hounding George for a scoop on his sexuality. George spoke out about the difficulty of hiding his sexuality during his early career years later, saying he had been advised not to tell his parents. The documentary takes a deep dive in to newspaper archives to show the level of intrusion George faced after the news of his arrest broke. George and American sportswear executive Kenny Goss started a relationship in 1996.

George Michael was arrested for 'performing a lewd act' on himself in a public toilet in 1998 as he tried to outrun the traumas he had suffered.

"From the point when Anselmo got sick, I felt out of control. But as subconscious plans go, it was pretty successful." I thought, maybe he's just not impressed," he continued. And neither do I think I should." "And then I went to walk back to my car, and as I got back to the car, I was arrested on the street." I don't feel any shame for.

This documentary on the pop star's arrest for a 'lewd act' shows an era so breathtakingly homophobic that the shaming of gay men was a blood sport – and his ...

Fleet Street was a brutally homophobic place where, as one ex-Daily Mirror journalist puts it, the “shirt-lifting jokes” came thick and fast and “if you were homosexual you had to keep it quiet”. “I’m still so proud of him for that.” Me too. This was (and clearly still is, for some) the world in which Wham! “All the signs were there.” The media made it impossible for Michael to come out, then had a field day mocking him for hiding after he was arrested. The kick-ass making-of-a-gay-icon stuff, when he singlehandedly turned the situation around with Outside, which remains the most gloriously proud screw-you disco hit in the history of pop, is saved for the second episode. Hardly the stuff of the scandal of the decade, but these were viciously homophobic times, as the first episode of this two-part documentary barely needs to reminds us.

Channel 4 documentary delves into the fallout after the Wham! icon's 1998 arrest for lewd conduct in an LA public toilet.

His name is not uttered in the series and no explanation is offered for why, but it appears that he is making a separate documentary about the singer with Netflix. The absence of Andrew Ridgeley, the other half of Wham! His 1998 hit “Outside”, which transformed what the papers called his “shame” into a defining moment of gay liberation. Fleet Street was not a gay-friendly place at the time either, with one Sun journalist saying of Michael’s humiliation at the hands of the papers: “What did he expect?” There is a particularly icky moment when one paparazzo and one editor, almost drooling with excitement, reminisce about one of their car chases in pursuit of Michael, and their nine-page exposé on his cruising habits. The path he took, in the end, was the latter, but it all imploded in 1998 when he was arrested in a Los Angeles public toilet for “lewd conduct” (he was cruising for sex with men). The two-parter, which arrives seven years after Michael’s death aged 53, combines never-before broadcast audio of the singer with extensive interviews with his cousin Andros Georgiou and Michael’s long-time partner Kenny Goss.

In Channel 4's documentary, friends speak with love and hacks brag about exposing the Wham! singer – but there's limited reflection.

He spoke about it in interviews and famously dressed as an LAPD cop in the video for his single Outside, which also featured some snazzy urinals. Michael worried about what his parents would think, and he also wanted to retain what privacy he could as one of the biggest pop stars in the world. Wallis said that the tabloids were simply “reflecting the moral panic that was out there”. days, and that subsequently coming out as gay when the world was gripped by panic about Aids would have been “devastating” for his career. “Zip Me Up Before You Go Go,” said the front page of The Sun, the day after Michael’s arrest. You could feel the adrenaline rising again in an ex-paparazzo as he recalled seeing

Outed did nothing to celebrate Michael's steeliness during such a brutal undoing, instead focusing on the tabloids' mission to destroy his reputation.

“All great celebrity stories are essentially about hypocrisy,” explained Neil Wallis, a former deputy editor of The Sun and News of the World. Holly Johnson, DJ Fat Tony and the Reverend Richard Coles took viewers through the heady gay scene of the 1980s, illustrating the secrecy and subordination required simply to exist. “We had a motto: ‘your misfortune is our fortune’, because we made money when things went wrong for celebrities,” explained Kevin Smith, the founder of the celebrity news agency Splash News.

Channel 4 viewers shared their thoughts on the first half of the George Michael: Outed documentary, which explored the icon's public coming out story.

George Michael was one of our finest voices and deserved to be treated so much better." Although it wasn’t long before people took to social media to express their strong feelings on how the 80s legend was treated by the press. My heart breaks for what gay people had to and still go through.” “But I don’t feel any shame whatsoever. "I don’t feel any shame for... The Wham!