Boy George has confessed he was beaten up in the early 80s because of his androgynous style.
The Culture Club singer – who is openly gay – says he was attacked in public by people who disagreed with his choice of lifestyle and his penchant for experimenting with gender stereotypes when it came to make-up and clothes.
Recalling the early New Romantic movement, he told MOJO Magazine: "Sometimes I got kicked and punched. I remember once on a bus on London Bridge, this Teddy Boy kicked me in the face. I was bleeding everywhere and nobody did anything, ‘cos it was like, ‘punk’. People weren’t very sympathetic. But I also think when you’re that young, you don’t give a sh*t. You sort of feel like you have this right to be who you are."
George – who was in Malcolm McLaren’s band Bow Wow Wow but was fired and then joined Culture Club – admits his 20s and the start of his pop career were the some of the happiest years of his life.
However, the 52-year-old musician admits his lifestyle did freak his family out at first.
He said: "I was having the time of my life. Really all I cared about was getting off with boys and dressing up and having my photograph taken … My mum and dad, when I started dressing up, it really freaked them out. But then once I’d started doing it, they really weren’t bothered and they just let me do it. To be honest I was just making it up as I went along. When I look back now I don’t know how I crossed the road let alone had a career."
Boy George was beaten up for being different
