Boy George think being sent to prison was a "gift".
The ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?’ singer – whose real name is George O’Dowd – was jailed for four months in 2009 for the assault and false imprisonment of a male escort and is thankful his time behind bars allowed him to "work very hard" at getting his life back on track.
He said: "It’s something that happened, and sitting here worrying about whether it was the right thing and ‘Did I deserve it?’ … it happened. And I dealt with it.
"I went through the whole, ‘What have you done? This is not my life. This is a disaster’. But I always had the sense that I’d get through it.
"The gift it gave me was time with myself. I went into prison sober. I knew I had a lot of work to do. I’ve worked very hard at getting myself back in shape, getting my career back, getting my self-respect back.
"I knew it would take time, and it has. But I’m starting to feel the rewards of that work."
The 54-year-old singer has previously battled substance abuse and it took years to confess to being an addict but now, eight years after getting sober, he says it was a "relief" to admit his problems.
He told ES magazine: "When I finally did, I was like, ‘What a relief! That’s what I am!’
"My appetite for self-destruction and misery is greatly diminished. I’m not interested in being unhappy."
Boy George: Prison was a gift
