Escort and ex-lover reveals fears ‘liquid G’ killed George Michael as he reveals his ‘years’ of secret sex drug runs to tragic singer
GEORGE Michael’s ex-lover has told how he fears a sex drug he used to deliver to the star may have led to his death aged 53.
Paul Stag, 48, says the singer was hooked on Liquid G during their nine years together.
He said: “George was mad on G. He loved it. It is 100 per cent he would have had chems on Christmas Eve before his death.”
The pair used the codeword “champagne” when the ex-Wham! singer wanted to place orders.
But Paul said: “George just couldn’t handle his own drugs.
“He was incredibly sexually active and in his mind drugs equalled sex and sex equalled drugs. My belief is he didn’t separate that until the day he died.”
Paul’s revelations come days after George’s cousin Andros Georgiou claimed the star died of an accidental overdose and blasted the singer’s partner Fadi Fawaz for suggesting it was suicide.
Police are awaiting toxicology tests after George was found dead aged 53 at home in Goring, Oxfordshire, on Christmas Day.
Paul said of their time together: “There were many nights George passed out naked or clothed.
“I had to take his clothes off, put him to bed, switch everything off in the house.
“I saw him collapse many, many times. There were downsides. He threw up on my bathroom floor and I had to kick him out of my house.
“Sometimes you can see a car crash coming. He lived fast.”
Escort Paul, 48, met George in 2004 through a gay magazine.
They dated regularly until 2013, with the star becoming increasingly reliant on his pal for the drug.
Paul added: “My heart never sank when the phone went and it was a request from George.”
He said of the bookings: “It was 300, 400, 500 times. As and when he wanted. Sometimes it would be twice a week, then nothing for a few weeks because of his work.”
Paul says George once offered him £200 just to deliver drugs without a sex session.
He added: “It was good money. Towards the end sex wasn’t required a lot. It was almost as if I was delivering flowers to him so I didn’t feel dirty about it.
“It had to be special little bottles of pink G that he liked. They are illegal drugs. The liquid was transferred in little shampoo bottles.
“My policy was if I’m not going to do it then someone else will. And they are not going to be so trustworthy, or safe as me.”
The Sun on Sunday revealed two weeks ago how friends had been concerned before George’s death of his liking for Liquid G, also known as GHB or chems.
The drug is popular on the gay club scene. It is usually taken orally with a small syringe or teaspoon. But it can be deadly in large amounts or if mixed with other drugs or booze.
Paul revealed the devastating grip the drug started to have on the singer.
He said: “We just drifted to this period of me collecting the drugs.
“George would take them then we would just kill time with music quizzes, chatting about people he knows, Boy George or whoever, endless drivel, waiting for the G to kick in.
“Then suddenly, and this was the weirdest thing for me, he would say, ‘I’m ready now, let’s go and have sex’.”
“I can’t remember any time having sex with George when he wasn’t on chems. So any pretence that he didn’t have any on Christmas Eve is ridiculous to me. He was mad on G. He loved it.”
DANGER OF DOSE ERROR
THE difference in a GHB dose that gets people horny and one leaving them unconscious is less than a drop.
Even seasoned users often take too much.
The effects come on within minutes and last a few hours.
The drug also impacts memory. So there is a risk of over-dosing if the user takes more too soon, or can’t recall the initial dosage.
The chances of over-dosing are heightened with alcohol.
Together they suppress the user’s breathing, increasing the risk of unconsciousness and even death.
Paul picked up the liquid from a supplier each time George placed an order, saying: “He (the supplier) is not someone wearing a hoodie on the back streets.
“You go to a flat, have a cup of tea, talk about TV and ‘Oh yes, here’s some bottles for George. How’s he doing? Send our love’.”
George was once so desperate for a hit he gave Paul a CD copy of You And I, a version of the Stevie Wonder hit which he recorded as a wedding present for Prince William and Kate in 2011.
Texts to Paul also showed how George’s dependency grew.
In November 2011 George asked him: “I’m in the studio now mixing. Do you have any time to see (the supplier). I’d like a bottle of clear champers.”
A month earlier he asked for a discreet drop because his lawyers were visiting his home in Highgate, North London.
George alluded to his addiction telling Paul: “Hey how are you. I hope your (sic) proud of me for not needing a top up in a while."
George also turned to Paul after a bust-up with then boyfriend Kenny Goss.
He wrote: “Hi Paul r u there? I’m in need fella. Feel bad calling on a Wednesday but after the tour conference Kenny arrived unannounced and totally f***** with my head for an hour straight. He’s turned up everyday and I’m so scared I need champagne. Any chance? X”
Another message said: “Hi Paul any chance u could come to highgate early evening with the iPad and some champers I’ll pay for your journey as per. Would really help as I have a proper love interest date tonight!”
A later message from his Regent’s Park home said: “How are u? I’ve been a very good boy indeed for a fortnight but may play tomorrow... any chance I could get some champagne at RP tonight?”
Paul also told of George’s simple home life and his love of watching the soaps.
The singer kept a DVD collection featuring family films such as Finding Nemo, Toy Story and A Bug’s Life.
Paul said: “He was a home bird and loved staying in and watching films or TV. Coronation Street was his favourite show.
“But he really got into the EastEnders plot when the character Heather Trott had an obsession with George Michael, and tried to climb the wall of his house. George thought it was brilliant.
“He also loved The X Factor. He thought Simon Cowell was a genius so he was happy to appear on the show when asked.”
Paul added: “George was also very excited at the prospect of a Mamma Mia-style musical based on his Wham! songs. He thought it would work really well.
“But he hated one of his own records — Bad Boys, which was his second Wham! hit.
“He thought the “woo, woo” refrain was an embarrassing hook to the song.”
Paul told how George cherished his friendship with Sir Elton John.
He said: “They were so close that Elton was able to chastise George, urging him during his low points, ‘Get out there on tour because you’re the best at it there is’.
“Elton cared for George so would nag him if he needed it. It was a constructive friendship.”
Paul also spoke to the star following his collapse from pneumonia before a gig in 2011. He said: “I was saying it must have been scary for him.
“He replied ‘You have no idea. Doctors say it will take a while for the anxiety to die down.”
Paul believes his time with George came to an end when the singer met hairstylist Fadi.
He said: “George said to me one of the last times I spoke to him ‘I really want to make this guy Fadi work. I’ve got some good feelings’.”
Paul runs three porn studios and owns a £1million property in West Kensington, central London.
He also told how he witnessed the end of George’s relationship with Kenny, thought by many to be his closest boyfriend.
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He said: “I never met Kenny but was there the night they broke up. They were like trains going in opposite directions.
“Kenny found some drugs in George’s house, and George said he’d been off them.”
Last week George’s cousin Andros said hard drugs “had been back in (George’s) life” and crack cocaine was a favourite
He added: “I just think he took too much of something, mixed with anti-depressants and other drugs he was on, with alcohol. I think his heart just stopped beating.”
MY VIEW ON GEORGE MICHAEL
GEORGE Michael’s cousin Andros Georgiou was absolutely right to say that he needed the right people around him in his last years.
The tragedy is that instead, he welcomed in people like drug dealer Paul Stag.
It is incredibly sad to hear Paul’s words of an approaching “car crash” in the light of the singer’s death, aged just 53, on Christmas Day.
Most of us would have - in his position - seen a person collapsing unconscious as a warning to cut off their seemingly constant drug supply.
His defence that “someone else would have done it anyway” can’t help but ring hollow - especially to those who genuinely loved George.
How must they feel now, knowing that he spent his last years surrounded by people too selfish to tell him the truths he badly needed?
Perhaps if people like Paul had stopped supplying hi,m, George would still be here today.
- By Laura Armstrong, Sunday Showbiz Editor