George Michael’s sister Melanie Panayiotou is believed to have died suddenly, but her cause of death is currently unknown. Following the sad news of her death, Andrew Ridgeley took to Twitter to pay a tribute.
In view of his 44,000 followers, he wrote: “Utterly tragic news of Mel Panayiotou’s passing.
“My thoughts are with her sister and father at this desperately sad time.”
Melanie was found dead by her older sister Yioda Panayiotou.
A representative for George’s family confirmed the news of her death to The Mirror.
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He said: ”We can confirm that very tragically Melanie has passed away suddenly.
“We would simply ask that the family’ s privacy be respected at this very sad time.
“There will be no further comments.”
A statement from The Metropolitan Police also reads: “Police were called by London Ambulance Service at approximately 19:35hrs on Wednesday, 25 December to reports of the sudden death of a woman, aged in her 50s, at an address in Oak Hill Park, NW3.
Last month, she spoke out about the Christmas movie Last Christmas, which features many of her brother’s hits.
She said of her brother, who she refers to as Yog: “As many of you know, Yog adored Christmas and he loved the idea of this film.”
She added to the Big Issue: “I am sure he will be enjoying seeing Emilia [Clarke]’s amazing light bulb smile, something they share, across the celestial miles!”
Back in 2016, George passed away at his home in Goring-on-Thames, aged 53.