The Evolution of George Michael

After losing his partner in 1993, Michael was dealt another heart-wrenching blow when his mother succumbed to cancer in 1997.

"I felt almost like I was cursed," he said.

During his most difficult time, his craft would help him recover.

"I wrote very, very little. But the little I wrote did well and kept my head above water," Michael said. "It was like depression and shock that just went on for years."

Tabloid Fodder

Even as Michael tried recovering emotionally from his loved ones' deaths and his own depression, rumors about his sexuality circulated publicly. The murmurs hit a fever pitch when police arrested the singer in 1998 for engaging in a lewd act in a public bathroom at a Beverly Hills park.

It outed him publicly to the world and made him the butt of jokes.

"It was a very eventful and bizarre — bizarrely dark period for me that I actually thought was going to go on forever," Michael said.

But he added the arrest had an unpredicted effect.

"It was a huge relief and it took me about a year to admit to myself that I'd done it deliberately," said Michael. "The truth is, cruising has gone on for as long as there have been men trying to hide their sexuality."

Michael eventually pleaded no contest to the charge. He was fined $810 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service.

The incident became the inspiration for the music video of his song "Outside," which parodied the occurrence.

Drug Troubles

But Michael's public problems didn't end with his bathroom arrest. In 2006 he had two drug-related arrests. In one he was found slumped over the wheel of a car after having taken sleeping pills.

" I needed my license taken away," said the singer, whose driving privileges were suspended for two years following the incident. "When you know you've done something stupid, punishment doesn't seem inappropriate."

"I think that I really learned something from that because I did something that I've never done in my life, which is take risks with other people," he added.

Now, two years later, Michael said prescription drugs are no longer an issue.

"I think that the whole thing was the last couple years of [trying to cope] and — and I saved myself, really, by deciding to tour," he said.