Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley has revealed that his first concern for best friend George Michael when he came out as gay was the AIDS crisis.
George told Andrew in 1983 that he was gay when they were in Ibiza after filming the Club Tropicana video.
Andrew shared in his new book that he was called into Georges hotel room where their pal and backing singer Shirlie Holliman was already sitting.
When I walked across the hallway to Georges room, Shirlie was already there, perched on a large sofa in the suite. George was still in bed. He smiled as I came in, wrote Andrew.
The mood in the room was so relaxed and familiar, yet what George was about to reveal was clearly a big deal for him.
Andrew then revealed that George admitted that he didnt know whether to tell him or not but Im going to, “Im gay”.
However, he added that a terrible additional worry was the emergence of Aids.
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I know I wasnt the only friend of Georges who worried about him during that uncertain, frightening period, he shared.
George tragically was caught up in the crisis though when his partner Anselmo Feleppa died from Aids in 1993.
His death left George distraught and sent him into a downward spiral.
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It had devastated him but hed been unable to discuss it in public, he wrote in Wham! George & Me.
Had he spoken out earlier, who knows how differently things might have played out, he added.
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George died on Christmas Day 2016, and Andrew also admitted he still has questions about the singers death.
The coroner confirmed, three months after his passing, that there would be no inquest into his death and that the pop star died as a result of natural causes.
Andrew however revealed that George seemed to be in good health at the time and there are conflicting reports surrounding that night that preceded his passing.
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