Eighties pop icon Boy George spoke with Watch What Happens Live! host Andy Cohen about his fellow ’80s pop icon, the late George Michael.
Boy George said that in the early days they were competitive if only because of a few similarities:
“In the early days, we were competition to each other. We were both called George, both made soul music. So in the early days, we were really in competition. Then sort of later on, I started to really appreciate him as a musician — you know, right around “Faith”. I started to really appreciate his talent, you know?”
Later, the two were reported to be feuding over Michael’s hesitancy to come out of the closet. Boy George said everyone was doing it:
“It wasn’t really a feud. In the ’80s, everyone — Pete Burns, me, we all used to like, be really bitchy about each other. It’s like the thing that you did in the ’80s in those pop magazines. Now it’s the Housewives who do it! Nowadays it’s a bit more respectful but in the ’80s, you just said vile things about everyone.”
And he said Michael never allowed people to get too close to him, so he knew about as much about his “personal issues” as anyone else:
“I read stuff in the papers, obviously. But I never knew kind of really what…he was very kind of…kept people out, he was quite private.”
Watch:
