George Michael’s family have spoken the family feud tearing them apart in the wake of his untimely passing.
The ‘Wham!’ star died at his home in Oxfordshire on Christmas Day, aged 53. His closest family members have now revealed how George had shut them out of his life in his final months.
“It’s a large family, and now half are blaming the others for letting him smoke and drug himself to death. There’s a lot of recriminations,” a source said.
His family were devastated to learn of the star’s death from the media. Michael’s cousin Andros Georgiou – who is also his former producer and childhood friend – said he had begged the singer to get help for his addictions, but it only resulted in a falling out between the pair.
Taking to Facebook Mr Georgiou wrote: “My biggest fear has come true. I can’t believe this. Please someone tell me this is not true, Yog [Michael’s nickname] can’t be gone.” Adding that he was “watching Sky News in disbelief”.
Mr Georgiou’s sister Katerina also spoke of finding out about the star’s death on the news: “We only heard when we put on the news – on Christmas Day. None of us know what happened. We just don’t know anything.”
Very few family members had seen George since he spent time in a Swiss rehab clinic last year and had been in contact only with his sisters Melanie and Yioda, and their elderly father.
However, former producer Andros, had made plans to meet up with George and make peace just days before his tragic passing.
“He was feeling better about stuff and he’d stopped being naughty.
But there was much pain in his heart. I think it just gave up. He felt like he had let people down.”
“He had swapped drugs for drink but he was doing better. Now he’s gone it’s devastating,” said Andros.