The Bad of Boy George

Boy George - The Bad

No one is perfect - far from it - but those who are often exposed to sudden fame and the glories that come with it can find themselves falling into destructive tendencies. Whether it is to escape the pressures of their careers, demons that may haunt them from the past, or merely as a distraction, few are immune. Boy George, himself, can relate. As he said in an interview in 2016 with The Evening Standard, Boy George admits "I thought I was really worldly. I thought I knew everything. Ha! I didn't know shit."

Boy George's troubles began after the demise of his band, Culture Club in 1986, where he emerged as a gaunt junkie, addicted to heroin. He cleaned up, but in early 2000's, he fell off the wagon once more, using the drugs that had tormented him in the 80's. From an article published in The Independent in 2010, while residing in New York City he reported to police that his apartment had been broken into. There was no evidence of this burglary, but when officers arrived, they did find 13 bags of cocaine. Boy George was slapped with court-ordered community service for these transgressions and "he ended up sweeping ... the open streets of Chinatown" creating a media circus, until he was allowed to finish the sentence inside the Sanitation Department grounds.

Boy George is now sober and living a clean lifestyle. He practices Nichiren Buddhism and says: "My appetite for self-destruction and misery is greatly diminished. I'm not interested in being unhappy." Boy George has been in recovery for years and is doing very well. Wisely, he told the interviewer at The Evening Standard, "An addict is an addict. But until you can say, 'I'm an addict,' you can't start to make peace with those demons."

And as for Boy George's head tattoos? He gave them up when he gave up alcohol. Boy George said, "When I stopped drinking I lost the desire to be tattooed on the head." As for his present and future, living a sober lifestyle? He told The Independent, "There are many people in recovery all the time, and a great many of them manage to stay clean, to do good, to sort out their lives. I should know. I am one of them."

We hope Boy George's wisdom and what he has learned through his years of turmoil and getting to the other side of it will serve him and his fans well for many, many years to come.