In a candid 2022 interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Kenny Goss, the long-term former partner of music icon George Michael, opened up about their relationship and the superstar’s personal battles. Goss, a Texas-born art dealer, shared that those closest to the singer had long feared for his life due to his well-documented struggles with substance abuse and health issues.
Goss and Michael were together from 1996 to 2009, a 13-year relationship that began after they met in Los Angeles. Despite parting ways amid challenges related to addiction—issues that affected both men—they remained close friends until Michael’s death. Goss described their time together as predominantly happy, emphasizing the joy Michael brought him while acknowledging the darker periods.
“We all expected him to die,” Goss told Piers Morgan, reflecting on the constant worry he felt during their years living together. “I had spent so much time… being worried about him.” He added that Michael “hated” how much Goss fretted over him, but the concern stemmed from deep love and firsthand knowledge of the singer’s downward spirals. Goss also revealed that Michael had once credited him with saving his life, though he modestly downplayed it: “I think that’s a bit much, but I really did try.”
The couple’s relationship was open, with Goss noting that Michael was “probably more open” in that regard. They shared homes in London, Dallas, and elsewhere, and co-founded the Goss-Michael Foundation, a charity supporting contemporary art and various causes. Despite plans for a civil partnership in the mid-2000s, it never materialized, and their romantic partnership ended in 2009 partly due to ongoing addiction struggles.
George Michael passed away on Christmas Day 2016 at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, at the age of 53. The official cause of death, confirmed by a coroner in March 2017, was natural: dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver. While Michael’s history of health complications, including previous hospitalizations and substance issues, had raised alarms among loved ones for years, the coroner ruled out the need for further inquiries.
Goss’s revelations in the interview—his first major public comments in five years at the time—highlighted the human side of a global superstar often plagued by personal demons. He stressed that the happy years far outweighed the difficult ones, remembering Michael as “one of the most wonderful men in the world.” The art dealer has continued to honor their shared legacy through the foundation, focusing on philanthropy in Michael’s memory.
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