Elton John has said he "tried to help" his late friend George Michael overcome his problems with drugs, but "you can't help people who don't want to help themselves".
In a candid interview on Channel 4 News, John discussed overcoming his own addiction 28 years ago, and his efforts to help Michael, who was found dead on Christmas Day 2016. The final post-mortem report into the 53-year-old's death concluded that he died of natural causes, namely heart and liver disease.
"I tried to put my arms around him," said John. "I tried to help, but you can't help people who don't want to help themselves.
"I've learnt that as an addict and I'm 28 years clean and sober. When people told me when I was using that I was doing the wrong thing I was so angry and I just told them to go away or I actually used stronger language than that.
"So, I understand George, you know when I said a couple of things, and he did a whole page interview in Heat magazine, saying I should shut up and I understood what his reaction was."
John described addiction as "a horrible thing".
"And two or three of our friends are mired in addiction at the moment," he continued. "And I've learned there's nothing you can do 'til you actually say, 'Okay I'm going to do something about it, I need help'."
"Took me 16 years to say it," John admitted. "I thought, 'I know I'm intelligent. I know I have a problem and I can go for six months without it'. But it always got worse when I started back on it.
"And at the end of the day, addiction is a very serious problem and it needs to be addressed by yourself and you need help from people.
"Whether it's an Alcoholics Anonymous or going to rehab or just having the humility to say, 'I have a problem, I can't do this, can somebody help me?'"
John appeared on Channel 4 News as part of the global MenStar campaign to raise HIV awareness among men and to encourage them to undergo testing.
Honoured to launch @MenStar with Prince Harry today alongside @ejaf and our partners to engage with men to break the HIV cycle. They are part of the solution and a vital key in this fight to end AIDS once and for all. Elton xx #AIDS2018
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) July 24, 2018
📷: Michael Kovac / @GettyImages pic.twitter.com/JK0Ztq3RMJ
