Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley recalls his final moments with bandmate George Michael
Netflix‘s new documentary, Wham!, which dives deep into the pop duo’s white-hot success in the ’80s—and their decision to part ways while they were on top of the world.The doc provides a never-before-seen look at Wham!’s journey with support from Michael’s estate and unprecedented access to his archive, plus a first-hand account of their superstardom from Ridgeley himself, who has largely remained out of the public eye these past few decades.To mark the documentary’s debut, Ridgeley exclusively spoke with People and opened up for the first time about his final conversations with his friend and band mate before Michael’s passing on December 25, 2016 at the age of 53.Though they seldom made public appearances together—and never got around to doing an official reunion, as widely speculated—the pair remained in close contact and frequently met “over the Scrabble board,” it turns out.As Ridgeley reveals, Michael was “a big fan [of the board game,] and we’d have regular games of Scrabble.”Their last match was “a few months prior to his passing,” and Ridgeley jokes he was exacting revenge after Michael had beaten him just the week before.The iconic song put the British pop star’s controversial sex life front and center.It’s pretty adorable to hear that these two maintained such a playful and youthful connection, especially when you consider that they first met as classmates at a secondary school (basically, “high school” in the U.K.) in their early teens.“It took us right back to just… the essence of our schoolboy friendship and one-upmanship,” Ridgeley recalls of their regular Scrabble bouts. “It was a game that stimulated him, and me also.”Heartbroken at the loss of my beloved friend Yog.
