To feel sorry for George Michael that he felt unable to be honest about his sexuality for so long?

[girlfriend44]

Just been watching Wham in China. It seems such a shame that George felt he had to hide his sexuality from his parents and the media for so long.

Wham were really great fun weren't they?
Last Christmas still makes so much money from Royalties.

Anyone want to discuss Wham? Were they part of your youth?

There were plenty of openly gsy artists (and ordinary people) - Boy George, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Jimmy Somerville etc.
But as one PP mentions there was fear of/association with AIDS, but it wasn't really a problem 'coming out' - that era was actually quite refreshing in this respect, many felt more comfortable being open about their sexuality.

I agree. I can remember listening to Small town Boy on the school bus and hearing the lyrics 'kiss his lips' and being quite shocked because it was very rare to have gay relationships clearly spelled out.

At the time I was pretty clueless about Relax by FGTH.

Different times.

a great many people wouldn’t have been out.

It's really not.

I watched that too and thought it was amazing that anyone thought he was straight! How on earth did he hide his sexuality from anyone?

Exactly what I was going to write!

Openly gay celebs, yes. Openly gay young adults in big cities like London and Manchester yes too. But many many hidden people in smaller towns, schools, conservative workplaces where it absolutely was not safe or common to come out. Flamboyant, confident gay men were only part of the picture, the less obvious or less confident gay men stayed closeted, and as for (shock horror) LESBIANS! They were almost unheard of in most people's daily lives. That lesbian kiss on Brookside didn't happen till 1994, and many sections of the media was still outraged.

Married his long time manager some years back and said he kept his sexualty private in case it affected his career. I suppose backing Bette Midler at gigs in NY gay bathhouses may have been a clue. But like Cliff Richard and others he chose privacy

TBH there are a lot of gay actors (big names) that have ‘beards’ as in fake girlfriends recruited for the role which let’s be honest raises their profiles as well as the actors. Well known in Hollywood circles ! It’s a shame really in this day and age that this goes on

George would never have had the career he had if he had come out as openly gay. He would have had a career in music sure, he was immensely talented, but not to the global extent he did. He never would have conquered America with Faith if he was openly gay.

Times were very different to now.

I had no idea he was gay when he was in WHAM. Never even occurred to me because it wasn't something that was considered by most young teenagers back then.

Are you sure about Barry Manilow? I had no idea. Oh! Just Googled it, he had a partner for decades before marrying him. Well I never.

Also had no idea back in the 80s that George was gay. Never liked Wham! But George, he was a bona fide poet, a wordsmith.

I agree. It just didn’t cross anyone minds that someone could be gay, because it wasn’t something we concisely thought about. People were just people.

I feel sorry for Whitney Houston and Dusty Springfield. Whitney, similarly to George Michael was coerced into keeping her sexuality hidden. Dusty’s career dive bombed when it became known she was bisexual. It took The Pet Shop Boys celebrating her decades later for her to make a comeback.

Whitney Houston, that’s a new one on me.

Boy George wasn't openly gay as some pps have said. For a long time he spun the 'I'd rather have a cup of tea than sex' line. It was a good while before he was actually open about it. People were used to pop stars dressing up so it wouldn't have occurred to the general public. I only knew about George Michael because I was living in London and a friend worked with his boyfriend. But I used to go to gay bars with gay friends and was often surprised by some of the customers.

Boy George was an enigma when he burst onto the scene. He was unique. There was alot of discussion about him.

I remember the famous ‘I’d rather have tea’ quote also so he did present as heterosexual for a long time.

There was a huge row between Boy George and Pete Burns as to who came up with the look that made Boy George famous, as Pete Burns was wearing very similar hair, make up and clothes at the time. The two of them traded vitriolic insults for some time!

However, they later became good friends, to the extent that Boy George paid Pete's funeral costs when he died in 2016.