According to the former member of the 1980s pop group, George Michael struggled after coming out in 1998. Andrew Ridgeley witnessed directly George Michael’s struggles as a result of coming out.

The 60-year-old Wham! singer explains that “George’s journey and mine were inseparable.” “Shirlie was my girlfriend; we started dating just before my 18th birthday, and for around two or three years, George, Shirlie, and I did everything together. Shirlie was a good friend to him who he could confide in and who would stand by him no matter what.

It was “unremarkable” news, according to Ridgeley, when his bandmate came out to him in an Ibiza hotel room. The English artist speaks about his ex-girlfriend, singer Shirlie Kemp, saying, “Shirlie told me George was anxious about telling me, which I found a little surprising.” “I was like, ‘Oh, oh, yes,’ when he informed me. It wasn’t really noteworthy, but that explains a couple things. It lacked excitement.

“George was considering, ‘Yeah, I’ll just come out and say it,’ and I questioned, ‘Well, how’s this gonna change anything for us?’” Ridgeley adds of Michael’s postponed coming-out announcement, “The music’s still wonderful and once the initial sort of hullabaloo is done, then it’ll probably be just that.

But that wasn’t the case, and George says that, for him personally, that was the wrong choice, the speaker adds. We made the choice to wait because we were concerned about how his father, the media, and the label would respond. He was all ifs and buts, but the truth is that it cost him personally since he chose not to come out as gay.

Ridgeley found it tough to see Michael struggle with his sexuality.

“You know, before we even used the term, you were an ally. He first came out to you as bisexual and subsequently, of course, admitted that he was gay, the singer of “Last Christmas” tells. “You served as that alliance. You saw him struggle with everything, having been totally baked in from the start.

Ridgeley claims that until Michael passed away in 2016, the immediate ramifications of his coming-out statement on his life had not been handled. “I believe it to be mostly uncontested. He stressed that it came at a personal cost, something I don’t believe he ever fully accepted.

WHAM!, a new Netflix documentary on the band, debuted on Wednesday and is now available to stream.