Months prior to his sudden passing on Christmas Day, George Michael appeared extremely overweight and virtually unrecognizable, judging by the last known photographs of the late pop star.
The disturbing images, published in The National ENQUIRER in October, show a bloated Michael sporting a shockingly heavy frame.
The photos were reportedly taken about three months ago in September, when a visibly tired Michael went out to dinner with friends near his home in Oxfordshire.
A spokesperson for Michael couldn’t be immediately reached, but on Sunday, George’s longtime manager Michael Lippman cited “heart failure” as his general cause of death.
Ailing George Michael’s Descent Into Drug Addiction
Michael was no stranger to scandal over the course of his illustrious career, but had been growing increasingly reclusive in recent years, which may have been an attempt by the singer to stay out of the headlines after a slew of arrests and run-ins with the law.
In 1998, the falling star made headlines when he was arrested for a “lewd act” in a public bathroom in a Beverly Hills park.
In 2004, The ENQUIRER reported that George had lost control of his BMW on a London highway and crashed into a railing.
A planned 2006 comeback for the troubled singer was derailed when — just a week after giving his first solo concert in 15 years — George was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana in London. Police said they found George slumped over the steering wheel of his car after complaints of a car blocking an intersection at 3:22 a.m. Michael had long struggled with marijuana abuse — at one point admitting to smoking 25 joints a day.
Only two years later, Michael was caught smoking crack cocaine in a public restroom in north London.
In 2010, the unraveling star was finally handed a five-year driving ban and spent four weeks in prison after crashing his Range Rover into into a shop near his home in Hampstead, north London. Michael’s lawsuit told the court the singer was “deeply ashamed” of his drug-infused antics, and that he had checked himself into rehab immediately afterward.
At one point last year, Michael checked himself into the famed Swiss rehab clinic Kusnacht Practice.
As The ENQUIRER previously reported, Michael may have been secretly battling a heroin addiction and had barely been seen in public in the two years leading up to his death. Friends close to the late singer shared that he admitted to gaining over 80 pounds prior to his untimely demise.
