One of George Michael's closest childhood friends has claimed that drug use may have contributed to the singer's death.
Andros Georgiou told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme that "Hard drugs had been back in his life" and also revealed that the pop icon had been addicted to crack cocaine in the past.
"I just think he took too much of something, mixed with antidepressants and other drugs he was on - with alcohol", he said. "I think his heart just stopped beating".
However he dismissed reports that the singer was using heroin before his death saying "That is absolute rubbish. That is the one drug he would never ever touch".
The 53-year-old star was found dead by his partner Fadi Fawaz at his home on Christmas Day. Further tests are being carried out to determine the cause of death after an initial post-mortem proved "inconclusive".
Former music producer Georgiou was once so close to the singer that the two referred to each other as cousins, but they had a falling out in 1998.
Georgiou said that Michael did have mental health issues but denied that suicide was the cause of death.
"I believe he had suicidal thoughts, because his mental health was all over the place. But I don't believe this was suicide."
He also told the programme that he wanted to get to the truth of what happened and to find out "exactly what was in his blood at the time, who gave it [the drugs] to him, why did he have it again".
The producer recently issued a hard-hitting statement on Facebook criticising George's boyfriend Fadi Fawaz, in particular a recent tweet he sent claiming that the pair "were together 24 hours a day..".
Referring to Michael by his family nickname Yog he said "the more I am reading and the more I’m finding out about Fadi I just can’t keep my mouth shut any longer.
“No 1 he was never with Yog 24 hours a day they never lived together he lived in one of Yog’s houses in Regents Park?
"And even if they were, WHY were they not together on Christmas Eve? and WHY did he sleep in the car? Too many questions have come up.”
