George Michael’s death on Christmas Day at the age of 53 came as another sobering reminder of how many celebrities the world had lost in 2016. And while it’s been stated that the singer had died from heart failure, sources close to the “Careless Whisper” hitmaker claim that he was quietly fighting a heroin habit at the time of his passing.
A previous report from the Inquisitr shed light into the details of Michael’s final months , where the singer was clearly looking overweight, and rarely out of the house, living as a recluse for the most part. And it was particularly sad to note that George Michael had died at such a young age, at a time when he was rumored to be working on a new album and documentary for the coming year, as The Guardian wrote. Such an album, the publication noted, probably wouldn’t have been as big as his 1980s albums such as Faith , but his iconic status would have virtually guaranteed sellout tours and great interest from music fans.
Michael’s boyfriend of five years, celebrity hairdresser Fadi Fawaz, told the Daily Telegraph that he had discovered the singer dead at his Oxfordshire home on Christmas morning.
“We were supposed to be going for Christmas lunch. I went round there to wake him up and he was just gone, lying peacefully in bed. We don’t know what happened yet. Everything had been very complicated recently, but George was looking forward to Christmas, and so was I. Now everything is ruined. I want people to remember him the way he was – he was a beautiful person.”
The same report from the Telegraph , however, hinted at an even sadder picture of the final years of George Michael. Citing unnamed sources, the publication wrote that the singer may have been suffering from a “spiraling” heroin addiction in the past year, and that he had been hospitalized for an overdose at one point. The Telegraph also noted that cardiac arrest, the same condition that is suspected to be George Michael’s cause of death, is “common” among heroin users.
“He’s been rushed to A&E on several occasions,” one source alleged. “He used heroin. I think it’s amazing he’s lasted as long as he has.”
The Telegraph added that Michael had been rumored to have a cocaine addiction in 2014 and 2015, when he was supposedly at a Swiss rehabilitation center for a year. Michael’s spokesman denied this, saying that he was “spending time in Europe on an extended break.”
Yet not all sources believe that George Michael had a serious drug problem, particularly in the lead-up to his death. The above report from The Guardian states that George did have an arrest record for driving under the influence of drugs, but he wasn’t the type to take anything stronger than marijuana, which meshed with his reputation as a “man of the people” who wasn’t one to mingle too often with his fellow high-profile celebrities.
“His drug use was largely smoking weed then sometimes being an idiot, rather than taking high-grade heroin with an entourage.”
Regardless of the circumstances that led to George Michael’s death, those close to him told the Daily Telegraph that he had died as a very reclusive man who looked far removed from his glory days. The owner of the Catherine Wheel pub near Michael’s home also declined to be identified, but said that George had become a far less frequent customer in recent years, with his weight gain very apparent.
“He has changed over the years, got a lot bigger and wore glasses. He was very self-conscious. He just did not look like George Michael any more. It’s very sad. I went down to lay a candle outside his house with a group and they said the last time he was seen was watching the torchlight procession on Christmas Eve from the window.”
A neighbor, 80-year-old Malcolm Allport, told the Telegraph that there were Christmas deliveries arriving at the Michael residence, but no guests coming in. A church warden named David Bedall added that George Michael, prior to his death, had “decorated the garden with Christmas lights” to mark his presence at home, but failed to attend the church’s midnight service as he had done so in the previous year.
[Featured Image by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images]
