GEORGE MICHAEL - MICHAEL: 'I NEVER SLEPT WITH RIDGELEY'

GEORGE MICHAEL has laughed off suggestions he slept with his former WHAM bandmate ANDREW RIDGELEY - but admits everyone thought his pop pal was also gay. The gay pop star constantly defended his bandmate Ridgeley over allegations he was a homosexual. He says, "Everyone spent their time going, "Is he gay?' And, I'd go 'He's really not.' "He was beautiful but not in a way that was going to attract me. He was too pretty, too feminine, too elegant. I can understand everyone thinking we were sleeping together - but he loves women." Michael came out to the public in 1998.