George Michael: 'We wanted to help him but we couldn't' says Wham bandmate Andrew Ridgeley

Despite the extraordinary professional highs, George battled private demons.

Andrew believes that his friend’s problems were a result of his fame and fortune – and the attending pressures to reconcile his public and private selves.

He said: “I don’t think that battle was there (when he was younger). I think that was a consequence of his success. Of the two people that he was essentially – the performer, the artist that was George Michael, and the person that was Yog.”

Yog was the star’s childhood nickname, from his real name of Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.

source: express.co.uk