Pop star Michael backs cannabis use

He may quit Britain to escape media attention but says of the time he was caught cruising on Hampstead Heath: "Believe me, I think that the sex I have is worth being in the paper for!"

And he attributed his erratic behaviour to an attention-seeking and "self-destructive" impulse brought on by the death of his mother a decade ago.

The singer made a series of startling confessions in an interview with Michael Parkinson on ITV1.

Earlier this month he pleaded guilty to driving while unfit through drugs after he was found slumped over the wheel of his car in a London street.

Explaining the cause of the incident, ex-Wham! star Michael said: "It involves prescribed drugs and it involves a dependency on them, and the tendency to chase one drug with another because of side effects," adding that he could not say more because legal proceedings are still ongoing. He will be sentenced at Brent Magistrates' Court in north-west London on May 30.

The arrest was one of a string of bizarre episodes in recent years which have left fans worried for the 43-year-old star's wellbeing.

Asked by Parkinson if his "childish behaviour" was a bid to court publicity, Michael admitted: "Well, I have to ask myself, don't I?"

He blamed his behaviour on the death of his beloved mother, Lesley, in 1997, saying: "I know I have a very self-destructive tendency since my mother died, I have got to be honest. That has kind of made itself clear in other ways.

"I think there has to be some element in that in why I was basically not taking care of myself, really."