Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley looked back on his friendship with pop icon George Michael ahead of a new documentary exploring the singer being outed as gay.
Channel 4's George Michael: Outed tells the story of how the pop star was able to take back control of his story and turn what could have been a career-ending exposé into a defining moment of gay liberation.
Talking about his friendship with the icon, Richard recalled a "surreal" moment with the singer.
"[On a] Sunday, I'm cooking the lunch I go and open the front door and it was like. Beetle on my doorstep, it was a year after he'd been outed actually and he was very comfortable with it, in his leathers and his shades with Kenny [Goss, George's partner].
"In they came and we just had this amazing six or seven hours conversation. He spoke a lot about how he responded to being outed and how he turned it around."
"Goodness me, Richard," Susanna quipped. "What an absolutely remarkable encounter."
Richard admitted he'd "never forgotten" that moment and it was the "beginning of a friendship" with the singer.
"The friendship went on until, I'm sad to say, we all lost him to drugs," he continued. "It was awful the last year he wouldn't take calls, he wouldn't talk to people and he was having all these weird incidents, driving at three in the morning and crashing the car.
"And then that Christmas Day came and we lost him."
The Good Morning Britain host added he "wasn't surprised" by the pop icon's death because of the last year of his life.
In 1998, two decades after forming Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley and carving out a successful solo career, George was forced out of the closet after he was arrested for performing a lewd act on an undercover police officer in a public toilet.
Ahead of the new Channel 4 documentary, the music icon's ex Kenny Goss reflected on the arrest as he dubbed him a "tortured soul" in his later years.
Speaking to the Radio Times, he said: "From the moment he was arrested, when he wasn't with me, there was always a little bit of me, thinking, is he going to be OK?
"I was always worried about what might happen, that he might get into trouble again."
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