George Michael got arrested in toilet to distract himself from 'missing his mum'

06 March 2023 , 20:00

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George Michael got arrested in toilet to distract himself from 'missing his mum'

George Michael was a man of extreme talent, kindness and compassion - all of which he is remembered for.

But heartbreakingly, for a time George's name was also synonymous with scandal following his 1998 arrest for propositioning an undercover police officer in a Los Angeles toilet.

At the time, George - whose story is being revisited in Channel 4 documentary George Michael: Outed - hadn't felt ready to go public with his sexuality.

But after the incident, the brave star gave a defiant interview, telling the world he was not 'ashamed' to be gay and confirming his relationship with then-partner, Kenny Goss.

George Michael pictured with his beloved parents dad Kyriacos Panayiotou and mum Lesley Angold Panayiotou (Alpha Press)

"I want to say that I have no problem with people knowing that I'm in a relationship with a man right now," the Wham! star told CNN.

George Michael's manager says singer 'refused to be ashamed' over his sexuality

"I'm a very proud man. I want people to know that I have not been exposed as a gay man in any way that I feel... I don't feel any shame for.

"I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way, but I don't feel any shame whatsoever. And neither do I think I should."

He added: "Ultimately at the end of the day I'm not ashamed, I’m just p***ed with myself for having been so stupid."

On that fateful night on April 7, police just so happened to be carrying out a sweep of the park in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, although George was not the target.

George was arrested for performing a 'lewd' act in a public toilet block in Los Angeles (ROBYN BECK/Getty)

According to the singer, he was followed into the toilet block by a man who, "started playing this game, which I think is called, 'I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm going to nick you."

He joked to MTV: "If someone's waving their genitalia at you, you don't automatically assume that they're an officer of the law... I've never been able to turn down a free meal."

"Once he got an eyeful, he walked past me, straight past me and out, and I thought, that's kind of odd. I thought, maybe he's just not impressed," he continued.

"And then I went to walk back to my car, and as I got back to the car, I was arrested on the street."

Arresting officer, Marcelo Rodriguez, however, disputed George's version of events, insisting he came out of the toilet cubicle and found the singer exposed and performing a sex act on himself.

George Michael told CNN he refused to feel 'ashamed' (CNN)

Denying there was any level of entrapment, he unsuccessfully tried to sue the star for slander.

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Meanwhile, officers only realised who George was when they took him back to the station to book him.

The star pleaded "no contest" and was fined £674 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. He later poked fun at his arrest in satirical track Outside.

Later, he would reflect on the chapter of his life, initially hinting that his escapade was rooted in a desire to communicate his sexuality without giving into pressure to 'come out'.

But he later admitted his trip Will Rogers Park, across the road from the Beverly Hills Hotel, had subconsciously been motivated by a much more tragic train of thought.

The episode inspired George Michael's hit, Outside

Having lost his first love, Anselmo Feleppa, to AIDS in 1993 and then his beloved mum Lesley to breast cancer in 1997, the superstar said his arrest was "a desperate attempt to make the trauma in my life about me," so he could "control the outcome".

He told GQ magazine in 2004: "Up to then, the traumas had been out of my control and the outcome always bad.

"From the point when Anselmo got sick, I felt out of control. There were also family problems too hurtful to talk about, but I was snowed under with things I couldn't do anything about.

"So I gave myself this six-month distraction from every day being about missing my mother."

Explaining how he would go out looking for sex when his emotions hit a rough patch, he continued: "For six months, I had to work hard to fight for my career, but once that was done there was nothing to stop what came after it, which was just total depression. But as subconscious plans go, it was pretty successful."

*George Michael: Outed airs tonight and tomorrow night at 9pm on Channel 4

Frances Kindon