Boy George Tells All About Addiction, Prison and Janet Jackson: His New Memoir's Biggest Revelations

Singer and style icon Boy George has never been shy, so it should surprise no one that his new memoir, Karma: My Autobiography (Mango Publishing) lays out all the details on everything from his violent childhood growing up in South East London, his four-month prison stint, and his rocky relationship with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss.

“I’ve just stuck to things that I think were funny observations about meeting other people,” George says of Karma. “It’s just kind of more chatty — it’s not a history book."

Often acerbic, frequently funny, the man who was born George O'Dowd, reflects on more than four decades in show business — and he's far from finished. He'll appear as nightclub impresario Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge on Broadway starting this February.

Here are some of the biggest, best and juiciest revelations in Karma.

He grew up battling bullies and dodging violence at home

Unashamed about his appearance and sexuality (he knew he was gay from age 6) in 1970s South East London, he had to dodge gangs of right-wing youths and schoolyard bullies and continues to keep his wits about him when out and about today. “I’ve still got a radar for trouble,” he tells PEOPLE. 

Home was often violent, too. His father Jeremiah, a builder, had a terrible temper. Once he came home and found his father wielding a knife, his mother Dinah under the kitchen table. “Violence in marriage was accepted back then, it seems,” he writes.

When he lived in a squat in central London as a teen, his parents came to visit him, but he was out. Seeing the cut-outs of gay porn and newspaper headlines that adorned one wall, they left a note: “Nice wallpaper. Love you, son.”

Culture Club’s popularity soared after he appeared on the Tonight Show with Joan Rivers sitting in for Johnny Carson. “At that point I remember thinking, ‘My life is completely glamorous.’

He struggled with drugs and spent time in prison

But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses for George. He fell into heroin abuse. And — at the height of his family’s intervention to get him to clean up his act — his father set fire to some clothes in the singer’s apartment, saying he was going to burn the place down with both of them in it, in order to shock him into coming out of his room.

George served four months in prison in 2009 (he was released early with an ankle monitor) after being convicted of falsely imprisoning and assaulting a male escort in 2007. He shared some of his prison time with the late Amy Winehouse’s husband Blake Fielder-Civil. They had coffee in his cell, and Fielder-Civil “played me [Winehouse’s] version of ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?’ “Blake had that Sid Vicious vibe about him and I could see why Amy fell for him.... They were star-crossed lovers, a tragedy waiting to happen.”

George was assigned a “coveted” job in the prison kitchen. “Anyone known for throwing around knives may struggle,” is his wry take on landing the job. “One of my quiches scored high praise,” he writes, and recalls Pink’s "So What?" being played and everyone singing along. “Making good vegetarian curries came easy, even with the animal-food vegetables they supplied. Those carrots had an attitude and the knives weren’t sharp enough to take them on.”

He notes that he received lots of letters, including a “sweet” one from actor and writer Stephen Fry.

Other celebrities sometimes snubbed him — but not royalty

After his recovery from his drug addiction, he was invited to a charity event with Princess Diana in attendance. “My reputation was ragged,” he writes. George, who had brought his mother along, wasn’t in the official greeting party, but the host said Diana wanted to meet him. When he was “shooed away” by a palace official, he instead headed toward the bar. But Diana “broke protocol and approached me.”

Complimenting him on his outfit, she said, “That must have taken forever.” He quipped back, “I didn’t do it myself, love.” He asked if the princess could meet his mom, and “They spent 10 minutes chatting. She told Mum I was a true survivor.”

On the other hand, George has never gotten along with Janet Jackson (despite loving her music). “When it comes to me and Janet, let’s wait a while,” he puns in Karma. They met on the TV show Solid Gold and he writes that he approached her, “without my face on."

“She wasn’t friendly and didn’t try to be. But I just walked off and got myself into my best ‘Boy George’ and was walking around backstage to make sure I was seen by everyone.” When one of her crew approached him with a video camera, asking for him to record a message for Jackson, he recalls saying, “Next time you meet someone, be nice.”

He was ushered to her dressing room and she said she hadn't recognized him when she gave him the cold shoulder earlier. “Are you saying you would have been nice to me if you knew who I was?” We parted on awkward terms,” George writes. And the next time they saw each other a few years later, at a U.K. show, “She looked straight through me.”

He's trying to lead a healthy lifestyle

The singer has “struggled with my weight” most of his life, he writes in Karma – but says he believes he has finally got it under control. “Well, I’m on Mounjaro. Isn’t everyone?” And he adds in his trademark acerbic style, “Trust me, anyone who was fat last year and is now skinny is on the wonder drug.”

He has recently given up dairy and wheat – and not for the first time. “I walk most mornings and stretch daily. I talk to myself and I try to be positive.” He also writes he has never had Botox and “might be  the only person in show business with my own face. I’m not frightened of getting old.” But he has had his teeth fixed. “Even though people say they preferred my old teeth, my response is, “Give me your address and I’ll send them to you.’”

And he makes a “confession,” as he puts it. “I had three hair transplants around 2015-1018 – two in Ireland and a final one in LA.”

There was also a tummy tuck  that he needed to get rid of excess skin after previously losing 98 pounds. "Whenever anyone asks about my scar, I say I had twins by Caesarian,” he writes.  

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A former bandmate (and lover) sued him over the Culture Club name

Drummer Jon Moss wanted out of the band – which has been touring on and off in recent years — and a legal case reached its height at a difficult time for the singer. In March 2023, “Jon sued me by serving me court papers on my doorstep. To add insult to injury, it was just a few days after Mum died. His timing felt cruel,” George writes. Moss claimed the Culture Club name was worth $44.5 million. The band said $955,000. The case was settled at $2.3 million, he writes. He is gradually paying it off.

For more on Boy George's life and an excerpt from his new memoir, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, out Friday, or subscribe here. 

George's memoir, Karma, is now available wherever books are sold.