Boy George has spoken of his criminal past on tonight's episode of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here after he was asked about his time in prison by one of the campmates.
The Culture Club star, 61, was jailed in 2009 over an attack on Audun Carlsen, after he handcuffed the man to a wall during a drug-crazed night.
In 2009, Boy George, real name George O’Dowd, admitted he was high on cocaine and having a psychotic episode at the time of the attack.
He pleaded not guilty to false imprisonment and has always denied a court claim that he beat Audun with a chain - but was convicted of assault and false imprisonment and jailed for 15 months.
And on tonight's I'm A Celebrity, the singer was sitting around the campfire when A Place In the Sun star Scarlette Douglas asked him about a story she heard about ‘some guy in handcuffs and a radiator’.
Boy George immediately insisted that was ‘not true’, saying: “It’s not true, no radiators.”
Scarlette replied: “Oh, just handcuffs,” and Boy George admitted that was true, adding: “But the radiator bit wasn’t true, but thanks for bringing it up.”
Scarlette said: “Sorry, it wouldn’t surprise me if that was a fake story.” Boy George replied: “Sometimes these things, they go into the ether, and people keep saying them and they become folklore.”
Boy George wasn't happy that Scarlette brought it up and went in the Bush Telegraph to vent. He said: “Scarlette blatantly talked about my court case. I thought it was inappropriate what she did, actually.
“I thought she shouldn’t have said what she said to me. And I thought I handled it really well as it’s a big sore point for me when people say things like that.”
Scarlette asked about his experience in prison, which Boy George described as ‘boring’, and said: “Do you know what, people in prison were amazing to me. They loved me."
He added: “They thought I was going to be a total nightmare and when I wasn’t they literally thanked me when I left.”
Prior to his appearance in the jungle, Audun spoke out and said he is haunted by the 2007 ordeal that landed George, 61, in jail. He says: “I still see the monster that he is every time I see him. It’s hurtful that ITV give him that platform.”
A spokesman for the star said: “George went to jail for four months willingly after openly confessing to false imprisonment during a psychotic break 15 years ago whilst in the midst of a well documented drug problem.
“Not only has he been a pillar of society ever since, but he also remains sober to this day.
“He apologised publicly on Piers Morgan’s life stories and we are very proud of him for his rehabilitation.
“Everyone is entitled to a second chance and George has certainly earned it.”
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