George Michael silky voice has helped shift more than 80million records worldwide

But George Michael reveals he still won't quit the deadly weed. By Corrine Barraclough

George Michael's silky voice has helped shift more than 80million records worldwide, making the pop icon a very wealthy man in the process.

He's scooped 11 number ones in the UK and is acclaimed as one of the world's top singer-songwriters. But George's private life has always cast a shadow over his success. In 1998, he was charged with lewd conduct in a public toilet in Los Angeles after accosting an undercover male cop. The incident forced him to admit the truth about his sexuality.

More recently, the superstar smoked marijuana on a TV show, saying the habit kept him "sane".

And now he exclusively reveals that his drug habit has become an addiction - and is threatening his livelihood.

"I wish I'd never started smoking pot," admits George, 43. "It soothes my soul but it also destroys my voice. I am addicted to marijuana - I need it to stay creative.

"The purpose of it is to create a daze. That's why a lot of musicians smoke it - me included. I know I shouldn't do it. It definitely makes the walls of my boxes tumble down. Sometimes when I'm writing songs, I struggle for hours to find the right expression. Then I smoke a joint and five minutes later, I've finished the verse. Maybe I'm lucky that it has this effect on me but I still regret I ever started."

George candidly reveals that he began smoking pot when he lost his partner, Anselmo, to HIV in 1998.

"The strange thing is, I never smoked cigarettes before that. I started smoking when he died. I don't drink much alcohol and, at this time, I had two alternatives - taking sedatives or smoking. I didn't want to take sedatives, so I started smoking marijuana.

"Grief is a very mature feeling," he adds. "If I had to pinpoint the moment I felt like an adult for the very first time, it would be the moment I found out that Anselmo was infected with HIV. It was very surreal. It was my first contact with mortality. That was my step into adulthood. And from that moment on, there was no turning back.

"The moment I found out he was ill, I had this feeling that he was already dead. Instead of focusing on hope, I had already started to mourn."

George has previously admitted smoking up to 25 marijuana spliffs a day. But if smoking is destroying his voice, why isn't he trying to kick the habit?

"I can't function in the real world without being creative - and marijuana keeps me creative," he says. "I was already an established artist when I started smoking. I'm not sure whether I would have become a successful artist had I started smoking as a teenager because pot makes you self-contented and lazy. You are easily satisfied when you are high - which is not good at the beginning of a career. But I'm sure smoking pot is the only thing - as stupid as it is - that makes it possible for me to continue my work."

As well as destroying his voice, isn't pot destroying his memory?

"It's strange how little I remember from the Wham! days because I was working so much," says George. "I was totally sober at that time and although there were some important experiences - like our tour to China - I can hardly remember anything."

Despite his wealth and success, George reckons the best days of his life were before he found fame.

"I never enjoyed being young," he shrugs. "The environment in which I grew up was very oppressive. I started to feel happy when I enjoyed freedom. The happiest time of my life was when I left school and had two jobs. I was an usher in a cinema. I used to be pretty good because I smiled a lot. Apart from that, I earned £70 a week being a DJ and I earned a few pounds as a construction worker during my school holidays. That was a lot of money to me then - and I finally had my own life.

"I wanted to save £500 for a portable DJ set I wanted to buy. I worked for 12 weeks and they were the worst three months of my life. As you can imagine, I'm not made for building work! I had a plan that my sister would drive me to DJ gigs with my own equipment. I was 15, she was 17.

"I worked really hard to save the money and then she failed her driving test! There went my idea of becoming a DJ. At the time, I had my first real girlfriend and I went out with her for six months with £500 in my pocket. What a show-off!"

George now lives with his long-term partner, Kenny Goss, and says his life is "getting better and better". The pair are said to be planning a civil partnership gay wedding.

But George doesn't want to be a house husband.

"I used to like cleaning the house but I haven't vacuumed once this year. You know what comes to my mind when I'm vacuuming? Would Prince ever do this?" he laughs.