'It had a personal cost': George Michael was 'fearful' of coming out
George Michael kept his sexuality hidden for years because he was "fearful" of how his father would react and his delay in telling the world he was gay came at a "personal cost"
George Michael kept his sexuality hidden for years because he was "fearful" of how his father would react.
The late 'Careless Whisper' singer - who died in December 2016 - had come out to his Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley during his time in the group and though he intended to make a formal announcement, he ultimately only told the world he was gay following his arrest for carrying out a lewd act in public in 1998, and his friend admitted keeping things secret came at a "personal cost" to the star.
Andrew told People magazine: “George was thinking ‘Yeah, I’ll just come out and say it,’ and I thought, ‘Well, how’s this gonna change anything for us? The music’s still great and once the initial sort of hullabaloo is over, then it’ll probably be just that.
“But that was not the case, and George says that for him personally, that was the wrong decision.
"It was a decision to wait because we were fearful of how his father would react, along with the press and the label.
"He was all ifs and buts, but the fact is the decision was taken not to make his sexuality public, and that personally cost him.
“You know, you were an ally before we even had the term. He originally came out as bisexual to you and then later, of course, acknowledged that he was, in fact gay. You were that allyship. You were fully baked in from the beginning, and you watched him struggle with all of that."
And Andrew believes the impact George's coming out had on his life wasn't fully resolved before he died.
He said: “I think it is fairly unarguable. He made the point that it had a personal cost, which I don’t think he ever quite reconciled.”
The 60-year-old singer recalled how "unsensational" and "unremarkable" it was when George first came out to him, even though backing singer Shirlie Kemp - who was Andrew's girlfriend at the time - had warned him the 'Freedom' singer was "anxious" about opening up.
He said: “George’s journey and mine were inseparable. Shirlie was my girlfriend, we met right before my 18th birthday, and George, Shirlie and I did everything together for two or three years. He had a really close, firm, loyal friend in Shirlie with whom he could be himself and confide.
“Shirlie told me George was anxious about telling me, which I found a little surprising.
“When he told me it was like, ‘Oh, well, yeah. That explains a few things,’ but it was unremarkable. It was unsensational.”
