Defiant superstar George Michael pledged to take legal action against "pretty much everybody involved" as he criticised the media in the wake of being caught cruising for sex with strangers.

The 43-year-old appeared furious as he reeled off "slurs" on his relationship prompted by the original newspaper revelations, which included being forced to call off his "wedding" to long-term partner Kenny Goss.

And, after the News of the World found him in an intimate clinch on Hampstead Heath in north west London, the former Wham! star again insisted Mr Goss had no problem with the way he lived his life.

Tonight, speaking to ITV News, he angrily rebutted suggestions that he had been risking his health: "I have been doing this on and off since I was a teenager and never once seen violence.

"If I want to see violence or what I call shameful behaviour, the idea that women that in clubs these days have to hold their hand over their drink for fear of being drugged...

"Please don't tell me as a member of the straight community that I am taking risks. I know what I do and I am sorry but we should not be taking questions like this, from straight women in particular."

He told interviewer Nina Hossain "most men, gay or straight" would find the concept of no-strings sex attractive, adding: "I do not deserve the criticism. What I don't have respect for is some demand for answers from an openly gay man who is living his own life.

"I have not cheated or lied about my sex life to anybody in my life, in my entire life. I hate not to be able to rise above it, but there is only so much you can take."

And the 43-year-old lambasted media "slurs" suggesting the expose had strained his relationship with Mr Goss: "When media starts to put slurs on my relationship and indicate that my partner - who is perfectly happy with the way I live my life and the way we live our life together - that my partner is calling off our registered partnership and that I am having to buy him back with money: these kind of things are just unacceptable to me.

"I am really just here to say I have had enough really and I am going to have to take legal action against pretty much everybody involved."

Michael, who is preparing to embark on his first tour for 15 years, phoned up daytime chat show Richard & Judy earlier this week, and explained: "In actual fact, we didn't have our 'wedding' because we knew at this point in time in the run-up to the tour and with all the rubbish I've had to put up with in the last six months, we wouldn't get a small private wedding, which is what we want.

"I don't want a big lavish wedding. I wanted something small and quiet but I don't even think that we'd get away with that at the moment. There would be intrusion. So we postponed it on that basis."

He said he and Mr Goss recently celebrated their 10th anniversary and said he had given his lover a £1 million present to mark the milestone.

"We had a lovely 10th anniversary party and actually my 10th anniversary present to him cost me a million quid so I reckon I should get away with more then supposedly s******* Bernard Manning.

"I would actually have to do something he dislikes before the wedding was off."
The News Of The World reported that Michael was caught kissing and groping van driver Norman Kirtland.

The pop star admitted he had no idea who the man was but insisted he was not ashamed of his actions.

"There can't be shame in a situation unless the person is ashamed and I'm certainly not that," he said.

He said it was sad that words like "depravity" and "shame" were used by the media in relation to cruising.

"I think it's deeply and ethically wrong that young people can be exposed to that kind of language," he said.

The singer, who was cautioned for possessing cannabis in February after being found slumped at the wheel of a car at Hyde Park Corner in central London, denied he was "troubled".

He said: "I don't want people to think my life is troubled when it's not. I think I should be able to be what I am to young gay people, a man who's managed to succeed in the industry for 25 years."

Despite his indiscretions, tickets for his hotly-anticipated forthcoming tour have sold out. Most of the tickets went within two hours of going on sale in April.