GEORGE MICHAEL - MICHAEL'S WHAM! DEPRESSION

GEORGE MICHAEL experienced a period of self-loathing during his final days of performing in WHAM!, because he realised he was gay but was unable to express himself as anything but heterosexual.

The WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO star was relieved when he parted ways with his Wham! colleague ANDREW RIDGELEY in 1986.

He says, "My depression at the end of Wham! was because I was beginning to realise I was gay, not bi(-sexual).

"I felt cornered by my own ambition. I didn't have the self-control to restrain my ego, but I knew it was leading me further and further towards an explosive end.

"I was becoming absolutely massively popular as a heterosexual male. And... I was gay."