George Michael

• Documentary

Episode overview

He ranks beside Prince, Madonna, Springsteen and Jacko in the pantheon of true '80s pop giants. He's sold over 70 millions albums worldwide and his fashion trademark - leather jacket, Ray-Bans, five o'clock shadow - is an image burned in the mind of anyone who lived in the Reagan era. He's Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, aka George Michael.As one half of Wham and a solo artist, George wrote and sang song after song after song you know by heart (to name a few: Careless Whisper, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, I'm Your Man, Everything She Wants, I Want Your Sex, Faith, Father Figure, Freedom and so on). But for every platinum album and jam-packed arena, the singer has known unthinkable struggles, heartache and loss. Some of which you might remember (a little bathroom escapade) but most have been locked in the closet of an intensely private man.From childhood to now, BTM examines the hurdles and hurt on Michael's road to greatness, with never-before-told stories from the man himself and those who know him best (his father Jack, members of Wham, Elton John, Geri Halliwell, managers, etc.).Among those stories covered: George's childhood, wracked by grave insecurity and an oppressive father who did everything he could to keep his only son from chasing his pop dreams. His early struggles with his sexual identity and a one-night rendezvous that changed his life forever. The absolute hugeness of "Faith" and how the image he created would ultimately haunt him. His first true love, with a Brazilian named Anselmo Felappa, who would die of AIDS. The tragic and sudden death of his mother. His infamous Beverly Hills bathroom fiasco and subsequent coming out. His present day life with longtime partner, Kenny Goss. Tune in for an amazingly candid interview George himself calls the definitive conversation of his life.

60 minutes