[Source: Sky News]

Boy George is contemplating his relationship with fame. Intoxicating, often inescapable, he says he has not always found his decades in the spotlight easy

There has been a cost, he says. Much has been well documented. But in recent years he has been able to enjoy it all much more.

Most will know Boy George the avant-garde musician, and flamboyant frontman of Culture Club, one of the biggest music acts of the 1980s. Big hats, big songs, big personality. He has found new fans more recently through appearances on reality shows such as I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and as a judge on The Voice.

He is also an artist, and fame is the theme of his latest collection of portraits.

Vivid, bold, and punk, they are exactly as you might expect. He has painted his hero David Bowie, and fellow music icons Madonna and Prince, as well as a self-portrait.

The portrait of his younger self is a reminder of how his relationship with fame has changed.

The star, whose real name is George O’Dowd, has spoken and written about his struggles with addiction in the past. In 2009, he was jailed for four months for false imprisonment.

In his last autobiography, he described it as a “stupid, aggressive and regrettable” incident that was over in “less than 30 seconds”.

He disputes some of the details that came out in court, but called himself an “idiot who did too many drugs and made a massive mistake”.

George says his family helped him through the dark times. Despite there being more conversation than ever around mental health and the pressures on young stars today, he is not convinced the support is any better.

Now in his 60s, as well as Boy George, he is plain old “George from Eltham”, southeast London; although plain is not really an adjective you would ascribe to him.

For his Fame collection, he chose Bowie because the artist “shaped my whole career, my whole childhood”.

His relationship with Madonna, whom he has captured in her Madame X era from 2019 rather than one of her more famous earlier incarnations, “because artists continue to evolve”, is more complex.

They first met after he saw her in concert in New York, with fellow ’80s star Marilyn and two friends. They went backstage and he asked for a picture.

Earlier this year, George made his Broadway debut, performing in Moulin Rouge. Now, he is getting ready for gigs with Culture Club again, alongside Tony Hadley and Heaven 17.