George Michael says he got himself arrested on purpose

George Michael believes he deliberately got himself arrested for lewd conduct to help refocus his life.

His arrest in a public toilet in Los Angeles in 1998 led him to disclose he is gay.

George now says, in retrospect, he thinks he may have tried to get caught to "make my life about me".

The singer had been grieving over the deaths of his mother and former partner Anselmo Feleppa.

He told Jo Whiley on Radio 1: "I think, with hindsight, I did it to myself and I tried to work out why.

"It certainly wasn't because I wanted to be outed in that way.

"I knew I would have to defend myself and I'd gone through losing my mother and I'd gone through losing a partner before that. I'd had a lot of difficult stuff going on and my life had not been about me for ever.

"And suddenly it was a way of making my life about me. And for six months it worked. I had to fight, I had to make the video, I had to make the single (Outside), I had to finish the greatest hits, I did the Parkinson interview."

George was fined $800 and ordered to do community service after admitting committing a lewd act.

George also said it was no surprise to hear Pop Idol winner Will Young is 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 said.

"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."