International pop star George Michael
has revealed that a 1998 arrest in a Los Angeles men's room was
deliberate. The singer tells Good Morning America that he
wanted to be outed.
Singer/songwriter George Michael is on
his “25 Live” tour to celebrate his 25-year career. The singer,
who has not performed in nearly two decades, says the years away were
a “bizarrely dark period... that I actually thought was going to go
on forever.”
During that dark period, Michael lost
his lover to AIDS, then three years later his mother. He says, “I
felt cursed.”
In 1998, Michael was arrested in a Los
Angeles men's restroom for lewd conduct. He was fined $810 and
ordered to do 80 hours of community service. Reflecting on the
incident, Michael says he deliberately got himself arrested. “It
was a huge relief and it took me about a year to admit to myself that
I had done it, deliberately.”
“The truth is, cruising has gone on
for as long as there have been men trying to hide their sexuality,”
Michael said.