Singer Boy George has admitted that his professional rivalry with George Michael meant that the pair could never “really be friends”.

He revealed that while he had “so much in common,” with the late Wham! singer, their clashing “egos” stood in the way of a sincere friendship.

Speaking on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories programme, he said: “We had our squabbles, he was my rival, he was called George, he made soul music so everything he did it was like we were kind of battling all the time.

Boy George arriving at the NTA's last year.
Boy George arriving at the NTA’s last year (Yui Mok/PA)

“The only time we really got together was when friends tricked us and there was this one particular night where the two girls in Bananarama invited me to a dinner at a Japanese restaurant and he was there as well and we had such a brilliant time.”

The revelation came weeks after the former Culture Club singer, 55, Tweeted a heartfelt tribute to George following his “devastating” death on Christmas Day.

Sharing more anecdotes from his career, he added that his fleeting relationships with women made him wish he was bisexual, because it would be “more interesting.”

Boy George also revealed that he is still “paying the consequences” of the assault and false imprisonment of male escort Audun Carlsen, which led to his 15-month prison sentence in 2009.

Boy George at Thames Magistrates' Court in 2007.
Boy George at Thames Magistrates Court in 2007 (Anthony Devlin/PA)

“Now, in hindsight, I was having a psychotic episode – I was a drug addict, so I can’t really sit here and say that my reasons for doing it were founded in any way,” he said.

“I stopped him from leaving my apartment so I did that, yes, that was what I got done for…It was terrible what I did and I’m absolutely ashamed and sorry about what I did but it’s been very difficult to talk about it, but what I did was wrong.”

Asked whether he has since apologised to Carlsen, he confessed: “I really don’t think that it would make any difference and I always felt like not talking about it was dignified because I thought if I talk about it, I’m just going to hurt him, I’m going to hurt the people I love – where’s the upside?”

Speaking about his spiral into heroin addiction following the breakdown of his relationship with Jon Moss, Boy George said he will “always thank” Richard Branson for supporting him with his recovery.

He said the business magnate gave him a “safe haven” at his home as media pressure mounted and his own brother made a television appeal for him to seek help

“I have been very lucky because I have people that love me, my family have always been amazing, I’ve put them through a lot,” he added.

::Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: Boy George will be broadcast at 9pm on Friday on ITV.