Admitting it was an “immense relief” not to deal with daily media scrutiny after the group broke up in 1986, Andrew Ridgeley was “glad to get away” from the Wham! fame.
During his Sunday Times Culture magazine interview, the now 63-year old musician said:
“I’d had a very antagonistic relationship with [the press] for a while: “I had done inadvisable things and been photographed doing them — nothing that would land me into the clutches of the police, but boisterousness at an inadvisable level. A bit of sex, a bit of rock’n’roll, but, at that point, no drugs. Yet I had always felt my private life was my business — celebrity was extremely unwelcome.”
When asked if the end of Wham! was a relief, Andrew replied:“Very much. I was glad to get away from it. It was an immense relief when it wasn’t a daily thing — but I hadn’t helped myself.”
Because of his career ambitions and his sexuality secret until 1998. George Michael was more cautious in his dealings with the media.
“George understood that he needed the press and was conscious they would be a part of his career — even though he had a natural disinclination to allow the world into his personal life.” “He knew it would be unwise to have the same relationship with the press I did, but I didn’t give a shit. It wasn’t important for me to have fame,” said Ridgeley, reflecting on Wham!’s famous tour of China – which is captured in a new documentary – and admitting misses spending so much time with his “best friend,”
In the Wham! 10 Days in China film, Andrew Ridgeley addresses “particularly poignant” moments that include the duo squabbling over a speech they gave at a banquet held in their honor, adding:
“He gave a really good, measured speech, while mine was pompous.” “I remember he stood behind me giggling because he could not believe what an idiot I was making of myself. It’s those things one misses..” “Anyone who has had a best friend, who you grew up with and spent the best part of a decade with…” He drifts off, lost in nostalgia. “There was only one thing I wanted to do, really. Which was to be in a band with him. Everything else was just immaterial.”
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Author: Al Dente
Photo: Louise Palanker