A new Wham! documentary has explained why George Michael didn’t come out as gay during his time in the band.
The new one-off special tracks the rise of the 1980s pop group via archive interviews with Michael as well as his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley.
Approximately 20 minutes into the film, which is available to stream on Netflix,
Michael can be heard talking about his sexuality, which he kept hidden from the public until 1998.
However, the singer, who died on Christmas Day 2016,
revealed that he “really wanted to come out” shortly after Wham!
hit the bigtime in 1983 following what he called a “terrible” Top of the Pops performance of the song “Young Guns”.
In the documentary, Ridgeley recalled a conversation he had with Michael and Wham!
dancer Shirlie Kemp, who was one part of the dancing duo Pepsi & Shirlie, which saw Michael came out to them.
He said to me, ‘Didn't know how to tell you this but I’m gay – if not gay, you know, bisexual,’’ Ridgeley said.