George Michael believes cannabis use not a problem

George Michael says cannabis use not a problem, but confesses he'd like to smoke less

George Michael has revealed that he doesn't think his cannabis habit is a problem but has admitted that he would like to smoke less.

The singer appeared yesterday on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and in the interview spoke of his drug use, the depression he experienced after the death of his lovers and then his mother as well as the battle to come out about his sexuality.

'I'm constantly trying to smoke less marijuana,' he told presenter Kirsty Young. 'I'd like to take less and to a degree it's a problem,' he confessed.

However he added: 'Is it a problem in my life? I really don't think so. I'm a happy man and I can afford my marijuana.'

The former Wham! frontman divulged he hid the truth about his sexuality for decades for fear of upsetting his mother.

'Firstly, understand how much I love my family and that Aids was the predominant feature of being gay in the 1980s and early 90s as far as any parent was concerned,' said Michael.

'My mother was still alive and every single day would have been a nightmare for her thinking what I might have been subjected to.'

The singer explained that hiding the fact he was gay made him feel 'fradulent' and being caught in 1998 exposing himself to an undercover policeman in Beverly Hills was a subconsciously deliberate act.

'In a strange way I've spent the last 15 to 20 years trying to derail my own career,' he says. 'But it never seems to suffer.

'I suffer like crazy. I've suffered bereavements and public humiliations, but my career always seems to right itself like a plastic duck in the bath. In some ways I resent that.'

Michael conveyed his support for Amy Winehouse, who also struggles against drugs, saying she is 'the best female vocalist I've heard. 'All I can say is 'Please, please understand how brilliant you are.'