For a while in the 1980s, there was no pop icon to rival Boy George. That sweet, husky-femme voice, those crazy clothes . . . the tabloids called Culture Club’s lead singer a “gender bender”. But prejudice didn’t get in the way of screaming fans, and songs such as Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? and Karma Chameleon storming the charts and embedding themselves in popular culture.

But, like every diva, along with the glory and delicious quotes — he once said he preferred a cup of tea to sex – came drama. The Boy George story took in heroin and cocaine addiction, a stormy personal life, verbal bitch-fighting with other celebrities such as Madonna and George Michael, brushes with the law and now the prospect of jail. He is a complicated national treasure.

From his difficult childhood, growing up in Eltham, South London, with a domineering father, to becoming one of pop’s most enduring and exotic icons, Boy George’s life has been one long drama.

In October he told me that he was not worried about jail because he was living “in the moment”. “I’m not saying it’s not a big deal but life doesn’t stop. It’s unfortunate it’s happening at a time when things are going so well for me, but far better for it to happen at a time when I’m strong. I do take some responsibility for what happened. But it’s not as black and white as people think and that will be revealed in court.”


Times Archive, 1984: Culture Club at Wembley Arena
George's nervous patter between numbers was reminiscent of someone rewriting his own history

Culture Club at Brighton Centre, 1983
Boy George lures the wanted men, 1984

George told me that he gave up cocaine in October last year after waking one morning and feeling a sense of loss. “I knew that if I carried on there would be no happy ending, just more misery.” He was about to release a new single, Yes We Can, and was preparing for a British tour. The song’s lyrics were partly inspired by a desired-for Barack Obama victory as well as being a mea culpa: “Please forgive these crimes against myself”.

Had his sex drive or another “trigger” led to the trouble with Audun Carlsen? “Cocaine and sex are linked quite strongly – and all the manic behaviour that happens when you do that drug,” he said. “When you stop doing it you get more level-headed.”

Could he foresee getting tempted back on drugs if he was sent to jail? “No. I’m clean and I’m staying that way. I have a lot of clarity in my life. I’ve gone back to who I am: George O’Dowd in my purest essence. ‘I have faith in these desolate times’, to quote Terence Trent D’Arby.”

Some people think, “What a waste”, when they think about him, I said. “I think that myself,” George replied steadily. “That’s why I want to remind people what I actually do – singing, writing.

“Any kind of self-destruction, anything that depletes your soul, is a crime, but it can bring you wisdom,” he added. His many fans will hope that this proves true for Boy George himself.