George Michael Cancels Australian Concerts To Focus On Mental Health

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Almost a year after leaving a hospital in Vienna, Austria following a long battle with severe pneumonia, George Michael is still struggling with the aftereffects of his near death experience. The voice and health have returned, but coping with the mental side is still extremely difficult. So, in order to try and improve over the long haul, the singer has decided to make things a bit more difficult in the short term.

According to The Daily Mail, Michael has cancelled his upcoming nine-date Australian tour. He’ll finish out the gigs he has left in the United Kingdom and then seek treatment for post traumatic stress. It’s unclear how intensive the road to recovery might be, but hopefully, the former Wham! frontman jumps into it without any reservations.

Upon his release from the hospital last December, he was advised by doctors to find a professional to talk to. Being in the hospital for more than a month with a serious threat of death changes a man, but George decided he could handle things on his own. Now, he’s not willing to make that mistake again. Here’s a look at a portion of the statement he released this weekend…

‘They recommended complete rest and the type of post-traumatic counseling which is available in cases like mine but I’m afraid I believed (wrongly) that making music and getting out there to perform for the audiences that bring me such joy would be therapy enough in itself.”

Here’s to hoping George is able to find the peace he’s looking for sooner rather than later. He belongs on stage. When he’s in front of the crowd, he brings incredible joy to a lot of faces, and once his mental health improves, he’ll sound even better with the secret pain behind his eyes.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.