Photo:Mediapunch/Shutterstock; Nikos Vinieratos/Shutterstock
Mediapunch/Shutterstock; Nikos Vinieratos/Shutterstock
George Michaelhad “faith” in his relationships.
The “Freedom! ‘90” singer briefly dated actressBrooke Shieldsin the 1980s, but thefirst love of his life was Brazilian designer Anselmo Feleppa, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1993.
“It’s very hard to be proud of your sexuality when it hasn’t given you any joy, but once you have found somebody you really love it’s not so tough,” Michael toldHuffington Postin 2009.
Michael — who is the subject of two recent documentaries abouthis life and career, Netflix’sWham!andGeorge Michael: Portrait of an Artist—came out as gayin 1998, two years into his relationship with businessman Kenny Goss, which lasted until 2009.
“I spent the first half of my career being accused of being gay when I hadn’t had anything like a gay relationship. In fact, I was 27 before that happened to me,” he toldCNNat the time, later saying he felt forced to reveal he was gay following his arrest in a Beverly Hills park.
After Michael’sdeath in December 2016, Goss told PEOPLE, “I’m heartbroken. … He was amajor part of my lifeand I loved him very, very much.” When he died, Michael was dating Fadi Fawaz; the hairdresser was the one who found the English singer-songwriter’s body at his country home.
Here’s a look back at George Michael’s dating history.
Brooke Shields
Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
The actress recalled going on a few dates with Michael in her memoir. One night, in the limo home after a party for Grace Jones, Shields thought she was about to lose her virginity to the “Father Figure” singer, but instead, Michael allegedly looked into her eyes and said, “I think we need to take a break. I need to concentrate on my career.”
Shields said she was devastated then but wrote, “In that era, nobody was coming out, and he was a sex symbol. So, I was harmless. We kind of laughed. He was funny. There’s a depth to him, too.”
The actress also wrote in her memoir that their relationship was “definitely one-sided.”
Anselmo Feleppa
Michael consideredBrazilian designer Anselmo Feleppahis “first great love.”
The Wham! singer spotted Feleppa in the crowd while he was performing at the 1991 Rock in Rio concert. Michael would later tellHuffington Postthat Feleppa “was so distracting I actually avoided that end of the stage.” After the show, the two met up in the singer’s dressing room, and their chemistry was instant.
Michael said Feleppa made him proudof his sexuality as a gay man, explaining that he “broke down my Victorian restraint and really showed me how to live, how to relax, how to enjoy life.”
“I was shagging around, but I had so little experience with men that my sex life was so ridiculously inadequate for me, right until I met Anselmo really,” he told the outlet. “He was the first person I had ever loved, and I discovered he loved me too.”
A few months into their relationship, however, Feleppa tested positive for HIV. In Michael’sfinal project before his death, a 2017 documentary titledGeorge Michael: Freedom, the singer called the day “the darkest, most frightening time in my life.”
“Try to imagine that you fought with your own sexuality to the point that you’ve lost half of your twenties, and you’ve finally found a real love and six months in it’s devastated,” Michael recalled toHuffington Post. “In 1991, it was really terrifying news.”
In March 1993, Feleppa died of an AIDS-related illness at 36 years old. The day after Feleppa suffered a brain hemorrhage, Michael told his parents he was gay. “They didn’t even know he existed. The thing that really killed my mum was the idea that I had gone through that without anybody,” he told the outlet.
After Feleppa’s death, Michael fell into a state of depression that he described as “a deep black hole,” which only worsened afterhe lost his mother, Lesley Angold Panayiotou, to cancer in February 1997. “Losing your mother and your lover in the space of three years is a tough one,” he toldThe Independent.
Kenny Goss
Nathan Shanahan/WireImage
Michael met Kenny Goss, a Texas-born businessman and former flight attendant, in May 1996 in Los Angeles. The “Last Christmas” singer came out as gay in 1998, telling CNN, “I want to say I have no problem with people knowing that I’m in a relationship with a man right now. I don’t feel any shame.”
After the Civil Partnerships Bill, which allowed same-sex couples to form civil partnerships, was announced in Britain in 2005, Michael told the Associated Press that he and Goss would “be doing the old legal thing, but we won’t be doing the whole veil and gown thing,” adding, “I’m not very romantic about it to be honest. I think Kenny probably would be if I let him, but it’s just not me.”
While on the British talk showParkinsonin May 2006, Michael reiterated his desire for a small wedding, noting, “I think from a legal point of view it’s essential to have the same safeguards that straight couples have. We’ve been together for 10 years. I think we’re entitled to that.”
However, Michael and Goss never wed and ultimately broke up in 2009. Goss later toldThe SunthatMichael still texted after him the split, saying he “wished we were together still — like in the beginning.” During a 2017 interview withThe Dallas Morning News, Goss also said Michael was “truly the love of my life. And I think I was the love of his life.”
“We just had areally good, sweet relationship,” Goss added, noting their breakup was “just what it was. … We weren’t even mad at each other or anything like that.”
It wasn’t until 2011 that Michael revealed during a concert at the Prague State Opera that he and Goss had been broken up for over two years. “The truth is my love life has been a lot more turbulent than I have let on. This is probably the first break-up song I’ve written,” he said while introducing his song, “Where I Hope You Are,” according toReuters.
Goss and Michael remained friendly after their split. In a 2022 interview to promoteGeorge Michael: Portrait of an Artist, Gosscredited his former partnerfor “giving me the tools that he gave me to move forward and do great things that most people don’t get the opportunity to do.” He still headsThe Goss-Michael Foundation, a non-profit arts organization that he and Michael established when they were together.
“The beautiful memories and music [Michael] brought to the world will always be an important part of my life and those who also loved and admired him,” Goss told PEOPLE shortly after Michael’s death.
Fadi Fawaz
Source: Fadi Fawaz/Twitter
At the time of his death, George Michael was romantically linked to celebrity hairstylist Fadi Fawaz.
Fawazdiscovered Michael’s lifeless bodyat his country home in Goring-On-Thames on Christmas Day 2016. In the following days, Fawaztweeted a number of tributesto his late boyfriend. (Fawaz’s account is not verified, but Michael did follow the account from his verified Twitter.)
“It’s a [Christmas] I will never forget — finding your partner dead peacefully in bed first thing in the morning. I will never stop missing you,” he tweeted on Dec. 26, adding a few days later, “We loved each other very much and we were together almost 24 hours a day. I hate you 2016 from the bottom of my heart.”
“I keep the happy times just him and me. I have managed for five years not to be famous,” he said. “I would like to go back to that. I am going to take it easy. Every day it has been horrible. At the moment I am just going to say, ‘Thank you, universe, for the truth.’ ”
Fawazwas arrested in July 2019on suspicion of aggravated criminal damage after he allegedly trashed Michael’s London mansion. According toTheSun, the late singer hadn’t left anything to Fawaz in his will, and the ex had acontentious relationshipwith some members of Michael’s family.
source: people.com
