The first sign of real obsession with music was with an old wind-up gramophone that mum had thrown out into the garage. My parents gave me three old 45s - two Supremes records and one Tom Jones record - and I used to come home from school literally every day, go out to the garage, wind this thing up, and play them.

I try very hard to thank my lucky stars and keep it all in proportion and perspective, but it can be very tiring having a smiley face all day.

A lot of people like me, who've been around for years and years and years, only really lose it in their forties and fifties.

I spent the first half of my career being accused of being gay when I hadn't had anything like a gay relationship.

I don't really have any traits that I deplore. I get annoyed with myself sometimes, but that's about it.

In the very early days of Wham! the attention felt great, but I do wonder how much freedom I gave away by trying to become something I wasn't.

You can't have a child just to keep a relationship together, can you?

Because of the media, the way the world is perceived is as a place where resources and time are running out. We're taught that you have to grab what you can before it's gone. It's almost as if there isn't time for compassion.

Even though it's become a really cliched thing to see musicians working for charity, it's still effective and it still has to be done.

I do want people to know that the songs that I wrote when I was with women were really about women. And the songs that I've written since have been fairly obvious about men.

I know I have a very self-destructive tendency since my mother died, I have got to be honest.

I went through a long period where I was afraid of doing things I wanted to do, and you get your courage back, which is what's important.

English people have seen me get through scandals.

I find it too terrifying to go out in L.A.

There is no such thing as a reluctant star.

I have to believe that somebody up there thinks I've still got some work to do.

I'm lucky to be alive.

I went to prison, I paid my bill.

I can't bear Catholicism.

If someone really wants to hurt you, they'll find a way whatever. I don't want to live my life worrying about it.

I'm just not security-minded.

I had to walk away from America, and say goodbye to the biggest part of my career, because I knew otherwise my demons would get the better of me.

My depression at the end of Wham! was because I was beginning to realise I was gay, not bi.

It's only when the kids are in their late twenties that families really face up to what they are.