Elton John’s civil partner David Furnish has told how he fears for George Michael’s health and revealed friends of the star have asked them to help him.
Careless Whisper singer recently admitted that he smoked crack cocaine in the past.
Speaking to Victoria Derbyshire on Radio Five Live yesterday morning Furnish said: ‘The difficult thing for Elton and me is a lot of George's friends keep calling us saying 'you have to do something, George is in a bad way, he's in a bad state.
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‘We're only reacting to what his close friends say to us. I respect George, I love George, I think he's a huge talent.
'I just hope he's fine, I hope he's well and his reaction is the press it is what it is. I just hope he's well and happy and continues to be the great artist he is.’
Michael had hit out at Elton John telling him to ‘shut his mouth and get on with his own life’ after he expressed concern about the former Wham! singer’s wellbeing.
Asked by Derbyshire if the couple wanted to help Michael, Furnish said: ‘George has to want to help himself.
‘If he wants help we are here for him, if he doesn't want help that's fine, that's his choice too, if he doesn’t think he needs help that's fine too.’
He added that friends of the singer had told him and John they were ‘very concerned’ about the star.
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Film-maker Furnish said: ‘A lot of people are saying it to us, we get it very, very regularly, that they are concerned about his health, concerned about his state of mind and his wellbeing and that as Elton has been there and experienced sobriety now for 19 years, that perhaps he's best positioned to be able to help out.
‘But if George feels he doesn't need help and his life is in check and balance, then maybe his friends are wrong. I haven’t seen him in such a long time, it's difficult to judge and pass comment.’
Earlier this month, Michael spoke candidly about his drug use and sex life in an interview with The Guardian.
He 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.
He refused to say when he had last smoked the drug but said he had cut back on cannabis smoking to seven or eight joints a day instead of 25.
The 46-year-old defended his drug and sex life saying ‘it is just who I am’ and he said cruising on the Heath was 'nicer' than picking up men in bars.
U2 singer Bono offered to help Michael after Sir Elton John spoke to him, the singer claimed.
Michael added: 'Geri [Halliwell] told Kenny [Goss] that Bono, having spoken to Elton, had approached Geri to say, "What can we do for George?"
'This is what I have to deal with because I don't want to be part of that social clique. All I'd have to do to stop it is hang out in London, so people realise I don't look close to death.'
He continued: '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.
'Elton just needs to shut his mouth and get on with his own life. Look, if people choose to believe that I'm sitting here in my ivory tower, Howard Hughesing myself with long fingernails and loads of drugs, then 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.'
첫댓글 조지의 건강이 진짜 우려되네요 언젠가 이런일이 생길까봐 항상 걱정했었는데 역시 우려했던 일이 자꾸 비춰지는거 같아서 진짜 걱정된다는 ... 엘튼존과 보노까지 돕겠다고 하는걸보니 진짜 심각한가봐요..
우리 조지오빠 건강하게 오래 살아서 한국공연 해야되는데.....T.T
그렇네요...조지오빠 건강해야하고 잘 살아줘야 하는데...여전히 그런 상태인건가요.. 좀 변했나 했는데...암 ..또 걱정되네요...이런...