The article “Wham! and Women” was written by Deborah Law for Tiger Beat magazine (1984)
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley are the golden boys of pop, everywhere they go they are hounded by girls. Their good looks and good music have brought them fame, fortune, and a place in every girl’s heart, but the two have one thing in common – they are scared to fall in love!
Both George and Andrew are quite happy living at home and neither has a steady girlfriend.
Q: Are you in love?
GEORGE: I’ve always been scared of falling in love, I know if I were to get involved with a steady girlfriend, it would get in the way of my career – I’ve never fallen in love, I would like to because everyone wants to find someone they are happy with, but it is scary because a passionate relationship does stop you from doing the things you want to do. I know it sounds crazy but I just don’t have the time for a healthy personal life. Eventually I do like the idea of settling down and sharing everything with one partner, but marriage doesn’t appeal to me much.
Q: What do you look for in a girl?
GEORGE: If I settle with someone, they will have to be bright and they would want to be with me, even if I wasn’t famous. The most important quality the person would have to have is a sense of humor and that is why I get on so well with Andy… he is such a laugh and stops me from getting too serious.
Q: Do you have a lot of relationships?
GEORGE: Actually I was much more prepared to have casual relationships before I was famous, than I am now.
Note: George has kept any girlfriends that he has had well hidden. The girl that he has been photographed with most often is a young black woman called Pat Fernandez.
Q: Have you and Pat got something between you?
GEORGE: I don’t talk about that because she doesn’t like me to talk about her, but she is a great girl.
Note: George’s sister, Melanie, admits that Pat is not George’s girlfriend.
Q: Don’t you feel lonely without a girlfriend?
GEORGE: No because I have such a loving and stable relationship with my family, they spoil me something rotten!!
Q: Are you close with your family?
GEORGE: My mum and I are very close. I have a large number of close friends who are very supportive.
Note: Andrew’s girlfriends are much more in evidence than George’s, his most well-known relationship being with Shirley Holliman, one of Wham!’s backing singers, which ended in ’84 when Shirley started going out with Spandau Ballet guitarist Martin Kemp.
Q: Why did you break up?
ANDREW: It was difficult having a relationship with Shirley and working together at the same time – it was fated to end. I wasn’t upset when Shirley went off with Martin, but I suppose my pride was hurt.
Note: Recently Andrew has been seen on the town with numerous girls, two of them being Mary Stavin and model Caroline Stirling.
Q: Is there anyone special?
ANDREW: I am unattached and intend to stay that way for sometime yet. Actually, I don’t think I have ever been in love and I have no desire to rush into marriage. Since Wham! became really big, my sex life hasn’t improved at all, in the way that everyone thinks it has – it’s actually declined!! You can exploit your position and sleep around but I’m not promiscuous. The alternative is to have a wonderful relationship but we don’t have normal jobs with normal times of finishing, we are all over the place so we never really get the time to find out what a girl’s character is really like.
Q: What about the ‘wild sex’ image?
ANDREW: I know there has been a lot written about us in that way, but it isn’t true, we were just joking when we said things like that and they got taken seriously.
Q: Why do you think other groups are irritated by you?
GEORGE: I know there is an air of resentment towards us. Perhaps it has something to do with our friendship, or the fact that we come over very confident. A lot of what we do is quite calculated and we talk openly about it, but there hasn’t been a huge success in pop where the image hasn’t been calculated. But then people are resentful of success, it doesn’t worry us too much, though…
