George Michael’s former partner has won his long-running court battle and is set to receive a share of the late star’s £97 million estate.
Kenny Goss, who dated George from 1996 to 2009, has agreed a financial settlement with the trustees of Michael’s estate. The art dealer had originally demanded £15,000 a month, claiming the star had supported him financially while the pair were together. According to documents released by London’s High Court, Goss has reached an agreement with trustees, Christopher Organ and Michael’s sister, Panayiota Panayiotou.
Kenny and George first met in 1988 at a restaurant in Los Angeles and were together for 13 years from 1996. He was able to successfully sue under the Inheritance (Provisions for Family and Dependents) Act 1975, as he was financially dependent on George. The Act allows those who were previously financially dependent on someone to claim from their estate even if they are left out of the will.
The Father Figure singer paid Kenny a generous monthly allowance before they split in 2011, leaving him nothing after his death. The majority of George Michael’s estate went to his older sisters, his father, Jack, and friends of the late star. Former partner, Goss and George’s boyfriend at the time of his death, Fadi Fawaz, did not receive anything from the will.
Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley revealed in 2019 that he still has a “number of questions” surrounding his former bandmate’s death. George’s cause of death was ruled by the coroner as nothing suspicious as the star died from a heart condition.
However, Ridgeley wrote in his autobiography, George and Me that the star “seemed to be in good health” and there are “conflicting reports surrounding that night that preceded his passing”. The circumstances of his death “seemed unclear and only compounded the distress and without any real closure, the grieving seemed terribly raw. A heart condition was eventually recorded as the cause of death, but there are still a number of questions. It now seems as if we may never know what really happened.”
Kenny continued to support George after their split, accompanying him on a court appearance in 2010, and visiting him in an Austrian hospital when he contracted pneumonia in 2011. George Michael’s former partner Fadi Fawaz launched an attack on the late singer, and branded him a “low, worthless joke”. Fawaz heavily criticised the legendary singer in a video posted online…. Read more here.
