Jim Moret Remembers Landmark Interview With George Michael, in Which Singer Revealed He Was Gay

Days after the unexpected death of George Michael, Inside Edition’s Jim Moret has recalled a landmark 1998 interview where the singer revealed to the world that he was gay.

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"George Michael believed the British tabloids were going to out him as gay and he wanted to beat them to the punch and he came out to me, in his own words, in his own way," Moret recalled.

In the late 80s and most of the 1990s, Michael kept his sexuality a secret for many years. It all came crashing down in 1998 when he was arrested for a "lewd act" in a Beverly Hills park after he propositioned an undercover cop.

It was after the incident that the “Faith” singer decided to come out during an interview he did while Moret was with CNN in April 1998.

Michael told Moret: “I have no problem with people knowing I am in a relationship with a man right now. I have not been in a relationship with a woman for 10 years.”

Moret remembered Michael was “so nervous.” He added: “I actually stopped the interview. Stopped the camera and took him into the other room just to calm him down.”

How he arrived for the interview was also very surprising to the host.

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“What shocked me was, here is an international superstar — he showed up alone,” Moret recalled. “He had no entourage. No bodyguards. No publicist. Alone.”

Michael once revealed the impact that Princess Diana had on him before her death.

"Diana was the only person that I knew who made me feel like an ordinary person," he said. "That's what I thought was so amazing about her."

In June 1998, Michael poked fun at his arrest in the music video to his song “Outside,” which was on the compilation record, Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael.

The video features a man getting arrested in a public bathroom after soliciting sex. Michael also dresses up as a police officer and dances around with both men and women in the clip.

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