George Michael Husband Story: His Relationships, Partners, and Private Life

A lot of fans searching for George Michael’s husband are really looking for the truth behind the headlines and rumors. Despite years of speculation, the beloved singer never actually had a husband—but he did have a small number of deep, life-defining relationships that left a lasting mark on his heart and his music.

Who Was George Michael?

George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963, in East Finchley, London. He first shot to fame as one half of Wham! in the early 1980s, delivering pure pop joy with hits like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Last Christmas.” He then reinvented himself as a solo artist, releasing the blockbuster album Faith and later more introspective, soulful records like Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 and Older.

Over his career, he became one of the best-selling artists of all time and an enduring pop-culture icon. He was also a significant LGBTQ+ figure: after being outed in 1998, he gradually became more open about his sexuality and used his platform to support LGBTQ+ rights and HIV/AIDS charities.

Because George was both intensely famous and deeply private, fans have always been fascinated by his love life—and especially whether he ever married.

Did George Michael Ever Have a Husband?

In short: no. George Michael never legally married and therefore never had a husband.

The confusion comes from two main places:

• He had long-term partners, particularly Kenny Goss, with whom he shared homes and a life for over a decade.

• At one point, he even talked about plans to formalize that relationship via a civil partnership, which led many to assume the ceremony eventually happened.

However, those plans were postponed and ultimately never realized. So while he certainly experienced deep, committed love, George Michael never entered a legal marriage.

Anselmo Feleppa – His First Great Love

George often described Brazilian fashion designer Anselmo Feleppa as his “first real love.” They met in 1991 when Anselmo attended one of George’s concerts at Rock in Rio. George later recalled spotting “a really cute guy” in the audience who completely distracted him on stage.

Soon after, they began a relationship. For George, who was still closeted publicly at the time, Anselmo represented both joy and a new sense of freedom. But only a few months into their romance, Anselmo was diagnosed HIV-positive. George has said the news left him terrified—not only for his partner, but also for himself, and he carried that fear largely in secret because he hadn’t come out to his family.

In 1993, Anselmo died from an AIDS-related brain hemorrhage. The loss devastated George and pushed him into a deep period of grief and depression. Years later, he would pour that pain and love into songs like “Jesus to a Child” and the album Older, which he openly dedicated to Anselmo’s memory.

Even though Anselmo was never a “husband” in the legal sense, he was undeniably one of the central loves of George Michael’s life.

Kenny Goss – The Longest Relationship

After Anselmo’s death, George eventually found love again with American businessman and former flight attendant Kenny Goss. They began dating around 1996 and stayed together, on and off, for roughly 13 years—by far his longest relationship.

Kenny and George built a life together between the UK and Dallas, sharing homes and even founding the Goss-Michael Foundation, an art foundation in Dallas that highlighted British contemporary art.

In 2005, reports emerged that they planned to register their relationship as a civil partnership in the UK once the law allowed it. George later confirmed they intended to have a small, low-key ceremony, which fueled the widespread belief that they’d effectively become husbands. But due to negative press and a busy touring schedule, the ceremony kept being delayed and never actually took place.

Behind the scenes, their relationship wasn’t always easy. George struggled with depression, substance use, and legal troubles; Kenny had his own challenges as well. By 2011, George revealed that they had actually split two years earlier, although they still cared deeply for one another.

After George’s death, Kenny remained part of the public conversation because of legal disputes involving the singer’s estate, eventually reaching a financial settlement with the estate’s executors.

For many fans, Kenny was the closest thing George ever had to a husband—emotionally and practically—even if the law never recognized it that way.

Fadi Fawaz – His Later-Life Partner

In the last years of his life, George Michael was in a relationship with Fadi Fawaz, a Lebanese-Australian hairstylist and photographer based in London. Their relationship began around 2012 and continued, with ups and downs, until George’s death in 2016.

It was Fawaz who found George’s body at his home in Goring-on-Thames on Christmas Day 2016—a detail that permanently tied his name to the singer’s final chapter.

In the aftermath, Fawaz’s relationship with George’s family became strained, and there were public disputes and social media outbursts that drew heavy media attention. Despite the turbulence, it’s clear that Fadi was a significant partner in George’s later life, even if their love story was more complicated and controversial than his earlier relationships.

Again, though, there was no marriage, and no legal husband status—just a relationship that happened to coincide with the end of George’s life.

Earlier Relationships and Coming Out

Before he publicly came out, George had relationships with women, including make-up artist Kathy Jeung in the mid-1980s, whom he described as his “only bona fide girlfriend.” She appeared in the “I Want Your Sex” video and later spoke affectionately about him after his death.

He also briefly dated actress Brooke Shields and had earlier girlfriends such as Pat Fernandez. However, by the late 1980s, he had realized that he was gay, though he kept this private for years, in part because he feared how it would affect his family and career.

His sexuality became public knowledge in 1998 after he was arrested in Los Angeles for “lewd conduct,” an incident he later described as a turning point. He eventually embraced living more openly, both in his music and personal life.

George Michael’s Views on Love and Commitment

George Michael’s experiences shaped a complex but ultimately hopeful view of love. He spoke candidly in interviews about the trauma of losing Anselmo, the comfort and challenges of his long partnership with Kenny, and the difficulty of maintaining privacy under intense media scrutiny.

He did express interest at times in formalizing his relationships—particularly with Kenny Goss through civil partnership—but his life never quite aligned with the traditional narrative of marriage and husbands. Instead, he seemed more focused on emotional truth, loyalty, and authenticity than on legal labels.

His relationships influenced some of his most powerful work, from the grief-soaked tenderness of “Jesus to a Child” to the warm maturity of Older and the vulnerability threaded through his later performances.