Michael: drug use and casual sex 'who I am'

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 18:53

GEORGE Michael has spoken candidly of his drug use and cruising for sex with strangers, saying: "It's just who I am."

The former Wham! star confirmed he was caught in possession of crack cocaine when arrested last year in public toilets on Hampstead Heath, a gay cruising area close to his home in north London.

But asked when he had last smoked the class-A drug, the singer declined to answer.

He said he had cut back on cannabis and now smokes only "seven or eight" joints per day instead of 25.

The 46-year-old defended "cottaging" on the Heath, saying it was "nicer" than picking up men in bars.

"The handful of times a year it's warm enough, I'll do it. Quite often there are campfires up there," he said.

"It's a much nicer place to get some quick and honest sex than standing in a bar, E'd off your t*** shouting at somebody and hoping they want the same thing you do in bed."

Over the last decade, Michael has had a number of run-ins with the law.

In 1998, he was arrested in public toilets in Los Angeles for "engaging in a lewd act" and was cautioned for possessing cannabis after being found asleep at the wheel of his car on two separate occasions in 2006.

Recently, a number of stars have said they fear for Michael's well-being, including Sir Elton John who enlisted the help of Bono.

However, Michael said: "Elton lives on that. He will not be happy until I bang on his door in the middle of the night saying, 'Please, please, help me, Elton. Take me to rehab.' It's not going to happen.

"If people choose to believe I'm sitting here in my ivory tower, Howard Hughes-ing myself with long fingernails and loads of drugs, I can't do anything about that, can I?"

He added: "People want to see me as tragic with all the cottaging and drug-taking… those things are not what most people aspire to, and I think it removes people's envy to see your weaknesses.

"I don't even see them as weaknesses any more. It's just who I am."