George Michael Talks about his LOOKS, SEX, HONESTY, FRIENDS, and WHAM
by Jo Devon
TV and Movie Screen
December 1988
Our man in London, Jo Devon, caught up with George Michael both at George's press conference in Rotterdam, Holland, during the World Faith Tour '88, and at
various points over the last few months. George and Jo have known each other for years and George feels comfortable with the reporter. . . Comfortable enough
for Jo to ask questions most journalists wouldn't dare! This is Jo's second scoop for us. He has also interviewed Jon Bon Jovi in the current issue of Metal
Studs. Jo's style of questioning is provocative and personal. We're sure you will enjoy this extremely intimate and totally exclusive one-on-one talk with one
of the biggest stars in the world.
Q. With the huge success of Faith in America, which has you outselling Prince and Michael Jackson, how does it feel to have musically conquered the world?
A: Do I look ecstatic? I did want to win the Americans over and "I Want Your Sex" achieved that, as I'd intended it to. But up until now the States have always been my place of
rest. My house in Los Angeles was my haven, an escape route and my safety valve on sanity. With Faith's enormous success, especially in the States, I've made additional pressures
and problems for myself
Q: Do you ever wonder where it will end?
A: As far as success is concerned I don't want to take things any further. Although this tour is madness, when I get back home to London I'll be able to shut the door of my flat and
again be the person I know to be me. At the moment I still have a sense of balance and a foothold on reality, but were this fame to grow further I'm pretty sure I'd lose that.
Q: Are you thinking of people like Michael Jackson?
A: Yes. Him, or Prince, or Madonna. They're people whose lifestyle fame has severely adversely affected. I don't want to be unable to- step outside without a bevy of minders
(bodyguards). I met Michael Jackson recently. He was normal, but the seclusion in which he has to live presents a frightening picture. I don't want fame on that scale. I don't think I
could handle it.
Q: How normal is your life?
A: Bearing in mind the amount of exposure I had with Wham!, my life is extremely normal. I go out a lot in the evenings at home. I do tend to go to the same old places though.
There are three or four clubs where the other people who go there have seen me so often they ignore me. I'm happy with that and the way my life is. The point I've reached is
one where usually the idea of being famous is the sole reason for existence. For me, though, writing good songs is still the priority. That's how I've stayed normal.
Q: Though you're surrounded by people, have you felt lonely at all on this tour?
A: Not lonely, because as you say I'm surrounded by people. It isn't the same, though, as being at home with my friends. These are people I employ, which keeps a distance between
us. I'm not even close to the band—because I pay their wages, they're frightened of upsetting me. I don't know why. I'm not a tyrant. At times I feel isolated, but I don't feel lonely.
Q: Has it been important to you to stay in touch with old friends?
A: Yes, basically because I'm a very private person, and although I have hundreds of acquaintances the people I regard as true friends I could count on one hand. I'm very slow to make
friends, but once I've learned I can trust a particular person, that they're not malicious and their feelings toward me are genuine, I grow very close to that person, and my true friends stay
with me though thick and thin for years. I love my friends, and without them it would undoubtedly be harder to retain a sense of normality.
Q: Is your entourage in awe of you?
A: Yes, but not through any barriers I've erected. It isn't as though I take pleasure in reminding them who's boss. It's their awareness of relying on me for their livelihoods that puts them in
awe of me and that prevents them from being honest with me, and dishonesty is a quality I can't come to terms with. I don't mean they're all thieving, but if I, say,
make a joke, they'll laugh regardless of whether what I said was funny. I'd be far happier if they'd tell me to get lost when that's what they feel.
Q: Wasn't your girlfriend, Kathy Jeung, with you for part of the tour?
A: She was with me for the first but in fairness to her I'd rather not discuss that particular relationship. She doesn't get the chance to speak for herself, so for me to talk about her
seems all wrong.
Q: But didn't you expect she'd catch the limelight when you used her in your video for "I Want Your Sex"?
A: Doing that, I was taking a totally opposite direction for me. Having been away for so long, I think I was too relaxed, and to use Kathy then seemed natural. In an artistic sense, I
still believe the idea was a good one. She was perfect for the part and it's down to her that the video worked as well as it did. But it led to speculation about our relationship
and people started to pester Kathy about it, so I regret it. I won't be using Kathy in my videos again.
Q: Has this tour put a strain on your relationship?
A: Solid relationships are founded on honesty, and if you're truly honest with one another, distance shouldn't make any difference. There's always a phone. No. I don't feel the tour is
straining our relationship.
Q: Is it true that most of the songs on Faith are written for Kathy?
A: It's true that my writing is a form of self-expression now as opposed to the songs I wrote for Wham!, which were for pure entertainment. But the thing to remember is that anything
I write doesn't reach the public for at least a year. By that time it may no longer be representative of my feelings. The lyrics, though, do stem from past personal
experience.
Q: Are they for Kathy?
A: If writing is the heart of your life, as it is for me, and your lyrics can't apply to a person you've been close to for as long as I've been with Kathy, you're in trouble. You'll never write
good lyrics if you can't relate in words to the person you love. Mine on Faith are things I'd really say to a person I love, and when I wrote them, yes, they were written for
Kathy.
Q: Do you think you're too difficult to live with to consider marriage a possibility?
A: In the same way that people live their lives at different paces so they need varying amounts of space. I need a relatively great deal of space in which to breathe. I need room to be free. I
cope well with being on my own, and to sacrifice that means knowing I've met the person I'm to spend the rest of my life with. I can't be definite that's happened yet, and where doubt exists
I'm unwilling to sacrifice freedom and space.
Q: Is promiscuity a stage you would have grown out of regardless of fame?
A: It's a stage I may never have gone through had it not been for Wham! I used my position mercilessly while it was a novelty. I'd waited long enough, not being attractive to the girls
when I was sixteen and ready for sex. The fact that Wham!'s success made me attractive is proof of how shallow adulation is. Now that I'm older, I'm confident that beauty
lies below the skin, and as a person I have a lot to offer.
Q: Is it true you were twelve when you lost your virginity?
A: Yes. But that was far too young. It was a fumbling, embarrassing experience, and it left me with the impression that anything sexual was dirty. It was years before I felt like trying again.
By then, though, I was a spotty, pudgy adolescent and no more relaxed in female company than the average teenage boy with the same amount of average
popularity.
Q: How do you rate yourself now as a lover?
A: If I were to sleep with a "kiss-and-tell" type, nothing she could say would tarnish my self-image or damage my reputation. But learning how to make love isn't a skill that's perfected
through practice. It's the desire to please someone else that makes a lover a good one. Only when there's love between you and your partner does sex become making love, which is the
only time it's worth having.
Q: A lot has been said about you not liking your looks. Would you consider plastic surgery?
A: No. Unless some thing's glaringly wrong, you shouldn't tamper with nature. I'm healthy and fit, which is all that concerns me. I'm growing to like my looks. The roundness of my face
used to bother me, because it's the shape a fat person's face ought to be and I used to be chubby. Now that I've accepted my face is round I'm learning to like it.
Q: Are you vain?
A: No, I don't think I am. Vanity is never even bothering to check how you look because you know you look good. The more care you take indicates the level of insecurity. But vanity and
confidence are so finely divided, an enemy might say you're vain when a friend would say self-assured.
Q: But isn't it true that you have to see any pictures of yourself before they're released for the press?
A: I don't think that's unusual. Everyone wants to present themselves in the best possible light. Otherwise nobody would bother dressing up to go out in the evenings. Pictures that appear
in the press are as much part of me and my career as is my music. Musically I wouldn't put out rubbish so why should I in print?
Q: Videos promotionally were vital to Wham!'s success. Will they be playing a similar role for your solo career?
A: I hope not! If somebody told me I'd never have to stand in front of a camera again I wouldn't be sorry. I look at Wham!'s old videos sometimes and I cringe with embarrassment. With all
that leather, blonde hair, teeth and earrings, it's hardly surprising we picked up such a large gay contingent in our following. Some of them follow me now. I hope I won't have to rely so
heavily on videos now, which frankly with Wham! were basically selling tools.
Q: Do you feel that you've quashed the rumors once and for all that you're gay?
A: I very much doubt it. That kind of story sells papers, and when Fleet Street journalists can't get the proof they need they just make it up. I'm sure they'll circulate again, not that it bothers
me. I've met enough bisexual people to not think it debasing. The thing I do find offensive is when they ask me outright whether I'm gay, as if I'd tell them. After all the lies they've printed it's
an insult to my intelligence.
Q: Yet you did use the press when it suited you.
A: Yes, with Wham! we did use the press and it suited us well that they wanted to cover their pages with our pictures. It gave us the time we needed to polish up our act. And I can't deny
we capitalized on the attention by playing to the hilt the "sexy bad boys" role they wanted. But it turned on us, as inevitable it had to. They made us, heralded us, then hated us. But
when any relationship has so irretrievably broken down, there's no point in trying to revive it. Now I'll have nothing to do with Fleet Street, hence the made up stories.
Q: But you did agree to a press conference.
A: In Europe, in the middle of the European leg of the tour, and intended for European journalists only. But the British press decided they were European too and persuaded me to
compromise, an extremely rare occurrence, and I wish I hadn't bothered. The stories that appeared the following morning bore no relation at all to what I'd actually said.
Q: Are foreign journalists different?
A: Yes. They genuinely want to hear what I have to say. They don't have preconceived ideas about my sex life, or whether I'm taking drugs, or the latest scandal, whatever that may be at
the time. But it isn't always easier talking to them. The questions they ask, I often can't answer. Because I'm successful in pop, they think I have the answer to life, which I certainly don't! I'm
still trying to figure out for myself the why's of our existence. I may at times feel fifty, but I'm still only twenty-four. Pop stars have achieved a lot, but
not immortality.