George Michael: I stayed in the closet to protect my mum

Worry would have made her life a nightmare, says the singer

Monday, 1 October 2007

George Michael kept his homosexuality a secret because he didn’t want his mum to worry about Aids.

‘Every day would have been a nightmare for her thinking what I might have been subjected to,’ says George, 44.

It was only after his mother Lesley died in 1997 that the Careless Whisper star started to be more open about his sexuality.

Yet he still has pangs of guilt about being busted for gay cruising in an LA toilet.

‘Aids changed everything. I was too immature to know what I was sacrificing.’

Yet one thing George hasn’t been able to sacrifice is his thirst for marijuana.

In June the singer was given a two-year driving ban and ordered to perform 100-hours of community service after taking the wheel of his car while high.

He’s now completed 50 hours of the work while doing his best to limit his weed intake.

‘I’m constantly trying to smoke less marijuana,’ reveals the singer on Desert Island Disks. ‘I’d like to take less and to a degree it’s a problem.’

As for his community service, George adds: ‘I scrubbed rooms and made fajitas for the homeless. I was quite good apparently.’

Phil Boucher