Boy George has become the ‘gay version’ of his dad even though there ‘wasn’t much love’ growing up

Boy George thinks he has become the “gay version” of his father even though he tried to be different from him when he was growing up.

Boy George thinks he has become the “gay version” of his father.

The 63-year-old pop star – whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd – had tried to “do everything” to not turn out like his father but in the end, ultimately turned out to be “most like him” than anyone else in the family.

Speaking on the ‘Turning Points’ podcast, he told ‘Shout’ singer Lulu: “I did everything I could not to be like my dad but turned out that I was the most like him of anyone – the gay version of my dad. “I went out of my way not to be like him, and I guess I soaked it up because you can’t not.”

The ‘Karma Chameleon hitmaker explained that he grew up hearing for the things that his parents didn’t have and claimed that there “wasn’t much love” in his family home although there was “tolerance” for one another.

He added: “I wanted all the things that my parents didn’t have… there wasn’t much love… there was a tolerance… my parents did love each other no question, they just didn’t respect each other. So I grew up thinking that was normal – that screaming and shouting was what you did in a relationship and that constituted love.”

George – who is currently thought to be single but previously dated punk rock singer Kirk Brandon and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss – recalled an early relationship was “doomed” from the start because the other boy’s parents “disapproved” immediately.

He said: “It was doomed from the minute we laid eyes on each other – it was never going to work. I was this mad insecure queen from south London, he was a posh boy from Hampstead whose parents didn’t approve – and who knew how to have a relationship, even under the microscope.”

More weekly episodes of ‘Turning Points, featuring the likes of Brian Cox, Kristin Scott Thomas, Richard E Grant, John Legend, and more.