Fridae

Gay singer George Michael has said he thinks he got himself deliberately arrested for lewd conduct in 1998 to try to refocus his life after the deaths of his mother and former Brazilian partner, Anselmo Feleppa who reportedly died of an AIDS-related illness.

In an interview with BBC Radio 1's Jo Whiley, Michael spoke openly about his arrest for lewd conduct in a Los Angeles public toilet.

The 38-year-old told Whiley that in the run-up to his arrest he had been grieving over the deaths of his mother and former partner.

His arrest led to him being publicly outed as gay after years of mystery surrounding his sexuality. He said that, in retrospect, he may have put himself in a situation where he would be caught to "make my life about me."

According to a 1997 interview in the Mirror, Michael buried his grief by smoking up to 25 cannabis joints a day during the time he was recording the Older album - which is dedicated to his late friend.

During the BBC interview, Michael also spoke candidly about his partner Kenny Goss and was full of praise for Pop Idol winner Will Young's decision to tell the world he was gay.

"Was I surprised? I don't want to be insulting, but about as surprised as people were with me probably - and they'd had 18 years to work on it."

He added, "I'm very impressed that he did it. I think for a start it was fairly obvious that he might have been gay. I think it's very encouraging that the general public gave him the nod."

The Englishman's new single Freeek! was released on Monday in the United Kingdom.