New York Daily News

TRAGIC FIND

Partner: I awoke & George was dead in bed

- BY NICOLE BITETTE and STEPHEN REX BROWN

GEORGE MICHAEL’S partner described his heartbreak Monday at discoverin­g the pop star had died beside him as they slept in bed.

“ITs a xmas i will never forget finding your partner dead peacefully in bed first thing in the morning.. I will never stop missing you xx,” Fadi Fawaz tweeted.

Fawaz, a celebrity hair stylist, has been linked to Michael for years — but details of their relationsh­ip had been kept private.

The revelation about the circumstan­ces of Michael’s death at his home in Goring, England, came as it emerged that the singer had used his fortune to “heal the pain” of others — without seeking fame for his charitable giving.

Numerous accounts of Michael’s generosity emerged online as his millions of fans continued grieving his sudden death at age 53.

“A woman on ‘Deal Or No Deal’ told us she needed £15k ($18,000) for IVF treatment. George Michael secretly phoned the next day and gave her the £15k,” British game show host Richard Osman tweeted.

Questions still lingered Monday about the exact cause of death.

Michael’s manager said the pop icon had died of heart failure. A photo of Michael snapped in September showed the singer had gained a large amount of weight.

Police said they were treating the death as “unexplaine­d, but not suspicious.”

At the same time, others also came forward with stories about Michael’s giving ways.

British journalist Esther Rantzen, who founded the children’s charity Childline, told the Press Associatio­n that Michael donated millions to the organizati­on and insisted on keeping it quiet.

“For years now he has been the most extraordin­arily generous philanthro­pist,” British journalist Esther Rantzen said.

Michael also supported the Terrence Higgins Trust for many years after losing his partner Anselmo Feleppa to HIV, a member of the organizati­on revealed.

He also made smaller gestures that didn’t depend on his millions.

“George Michael worked anonymousl­y at a homeless shelter I was volunteeri­ng at. I’ve never told anyone, he asked we didn’t. That’s who he was,” Twitter user Emilyne Mondo wrote.

Journalist Sali Hughes tweeted, “I wrote in a piece ages ago about a celeb I’d worked with tipping a barmaid £5k because she was a student nurse in debt. Was George Michael.”

The Grammy-winning pop star donated all royalties from his Wham! group’s single “Last Christmas/Everything She Wants” to Ethiopian famine relief.

Earnings from “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me,” which he recorded in a duet with Elton John, went to AIDS hospice London Lighthouse and the Rainbow Trust children’s charity.

 ??  ?? George Michael (r.) with his boyfriend, Fadi Fawaz, in Zurich in April 2015. Fawaz found Michael dead Sunday in the home (below) they shared outside London. Bottom, woman leaves flowers outside Michael’s home.
George Michael (r.) with his boyfriend, Fadi Fawaz, in Zurich in April 2015. Fawaz found Michael dead Sunday in the home (below) they shared outside London. Bottom, woman leaves flowers outside Michael’s home.

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