How He Found 'Freedom'

Forced to Come Out After a Shocking 1998 Arrest, the Pop Icon Became a Proud Beacon of the Gay Community — and Quietly Gave Away Millions to Charity.

OUT of the darkness comes light… and that was especially true for George Michael, whose sudden death, reportedly from heart failure, on Dec. 25 at the age of 53, shocked his millions of fans. While the pop superstar was forging a mega career, resulting in sales of 100 million albums worldwide and a personal fortune estimated at $130 million, the man born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in London (his father was a restaurant owner from Cyprus; his mother an English dancer) was in the grip of a secret struggle. When his duo Wham! (with former schoolmate Andrew Ridgeley) broke through in the early ’80s with smash hits “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Careless Whisper” and “Freedom,” women everywhere swooned over his impossibly handsome looks — while George hid his bisexuality. And, after “beginning to realize I was gay, not bisexual,” he battled depression, he later admitted.