According to a piece by Hello! magazine, Michael found Christmas to be a particularly difficult time. He’d lost his mom and partner, Anselmo Feleppa around Christmas. They died five years apart. Michael revealed how difficult it was to handle his emotions. “From the day I found out about my partner to the day I can say I was on the mend from my mother, it was just constant fear. It was either fear of death, or fear of the next bereavement. I’d never felt that kind of depression. It was the darkest time,” Michael revealed.

Michael first met Feleppa while performing at a concert in 1991. “At the front of 160,000 people there was this guy over at the right-hand side of the stage that just fixed me with this look,” George said. “He was so cute. I was so distracted by him, I stayed away from that corner, because otherwise I thought I was going to get really distracted and forget the words. The moment I looked at him I got the feeling he was going to be a part of my life.”

The pair began a passionate relationship. Unfortunately, Feleppa had flu-like symptoms and was told to get tested for HIV. George was heartbroken. “I remember looking at the sky and saying, ‘Don’t you dare do this to me!'” he said. Michael didn’t get what he want and lost Feleppa to AIDS-related complications in 1993.