The press gave me a voice too quickly, and that could have unsettled a man who had every right to feel he should be in control of the thing he had created.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The press made me something I really wasn't and I tried to live up to what they made me.
The press seemed to take some delight that I previously had a 'straight audience,' and set about trying to destroy that. And I think some men were frustrated that their girlfriends wouldn't let go of the idea that George Michael just hadn't found the 'right girl.'
The press these days should be rather careful about its role. We may have acquired some tendencies about over-involvement that we had better overcome.
I wanted control over what was said and what was not said, rather than holding my head down in shame.
A lot of things that should not be written were written without checking with me, things that were not in good taste. That hurt me. That is why I stopped talking to the press. Because they didn't want to ask me. They just wanted to write what they felt like.
To me, it was shocking that a government of men could look with such extreme contempt on a movement that was asking nothing except such a simple little thing as the right to vote.
I used to think the press was a necessary evil and now I don't think it is. I think it's something you choose.
Another very strong image from the first day was giving my initial press conference in the morning - going down and finding out that everything I had said, the essence of what I had said, was wrong.
I wanted the press to become something of a movement. Not a movement committed to a particular 'ism', but a gathering together of writers with an aesthetic approach to literature and with a lust for excellence.
I have never quite grasped the worry about the power of the press. After all, it speaks with a thousand voices, in constant dissonance.