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I really have no plans for any kind of career in TV or anything, but if I wanted to become good at it, I could. But I don't really think it's in the cards.
George Michael
I think for most of us, our biggest frailties are sexual.
I never minded being thought of as a pop star. People have always thought I wanted to be seen as a serious musician, but I didn't, I just wanted people to know that I was absolutely serious about pop music.
It's strange. At some point in your career, the situation between yourself and the camera reverses. For a certain number of years, you court it and you need it, but ultimately, it needs you more, and it's a bit like a relationship. The minute that happens, it turns you off... and it does feel like it is taking something from you.
I have more love, success, and security than I could ever dream of.
Everything was going my way. I was happily marching into the history books. Then it all just fell apart.
I find it too terrifying to go out in L.A.
I write about my life.
With pop stars or film stars, we become the object of people's self-definition, as well as the object of sexual definition.
The '90s were a bit of a disaster for me in so many ways. On a personal level, I don't think I could have toured. Also, I had some physical problems with my back that are now sorted and I just wasn't in the right state of mind.
I am a political person, though not with a big P.
I'd like to say things are bound to get better, but I don't really believe it.
I've always been the porky boy in my head.
I realised those things my ego needed - fame and success - were going to make me terribly unhappy. So I wrenched myself away from that. I had to. I had to walk away from America and say goodbye to the biggest part of my career because I knew, otherwise, my demons would get the better of me.
The fact I had my father as an adversary was such a powerful tool to work with. I subconsciously fought him to the degree that I drove me to be one of the most successful musician in the world.
The truth is my love life has been a lot more turbulent than I have let on.
It takes so much strength to say to your ego, 'You know what? You're going to keep me lonely, so I have to ignore you.'
I watch people who are not driven by creativity any more, and I think how dull it must be to produce the same kind of thing. If you don't feel you're reaching something new, then don't do it.
I do want people to know that the songs that I wrote when I was with women were really about women. And the songs that I've written since have been fairly obvious about men.
I spent the first half of my career being accused of being gay when I hadn't had anything like a gay relationship.
You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.
I've written a whole body of work that I'm incredibly proud of.
There are things about my mum that I only realised later, things that make me admire her.
I'm just not security-minded.
You can't have a child just to keep a relationship together, can you?
You can't imagine what it's like playing to people who have been loyal to you for 25 years and haven't seen you for 15.
No one wants to look wholesome at 21!
My depression at the end of Wham! was because I was beginning to realise I was gay, not bi.
I have got other interests than just making music. I would like to follow those interests through.
I've achieved what every artist wants, which is that some of their work will outlive them.
I don't have joy in watching myself, whereas, actually, I quite like listening to my own music.
There are so many things and so many aspects to gay life that I've discovered and so many things to write about. I have a new life, and I have a new take on dance music because of that life.
I had been obsessed with insects and creepy-crawlies: I used to get up at five o'clock in the morning and go out into this field behind our garden and collect insects before everyone else got up, and suddenly, all I wanted to know about was music. It just seemed a very, very strange thing.
Even though it's become a really cliched thing to see musicians working for charity, it's still effective and it still has to be done.
I'm surprised that I've survived my own dysfunction, really.
For some strange reason, my gay life didn't get easier when I came out. Quite the opposite happened, really.
There's no comfort in the truth, pain is all you'll find.
I was brought up when media still kept totally away from violence when it came to children. I don't think it would have made me scared of violence, but I find it repulsive.
I mean, I've done different things at different times that I shouldn't have done, once or twice, you know.
I would advise any gay person that being out in the real sense can never happen too soon.
The media has affected everybody's consciousness much more than most people will admit.
I can't bear Catholicism.
I don't really have any traits that I deplore. I get annoyed with myself sometimes, but that's about it.
If I can just live further from the spotlight I think that'll be better for all really.
Anybody who fights for human rights or to make this world a better place. Nurses, doctors, teachers: these are the people who deserve the credit these days.
I used to believe that George Michael was a total actor. It was self-defeating, because it made me also feel fraudulent.
I had to walk away from America, and say goodbye to the biggest part of my career, because I knew otherwise my demons would get the better of me.
The first sign of real obsession with music was with an old wind-up gramophone that mum had thrown out into the garage. My parents gave me three old 45s - two Supremes records and one Tom Jones record - and I used to come home from school literally every day, go out to the garage, wind this thing up, and play them.
I knew, regardless of anything else, singing in front of an orchestra was going to be inspirational. It would feed me.
I want to make a pop album - something more upbeat than my stuff was in the '90s.
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