Boy George is grateful for prison experience

Spending time in prison was not a bad journey for Boy George.

The pop star actually thinks being sent to prison was a “gift”.

Boy George –whose real name is George O’Dowd- was jailed for four months in 2009 for the assault and false imprisonment of a male escort, and he now thinks his time behind bars was productive, and helped him get his life back on track.

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He said: "It’s something that happened, and sitting here worrying about whether it was the right thing and ‘Did I deserve it?’ … it happened. And I dealt with it.

"I went through the whole, ‘What have you done? This is not my life. This is a disaster’. But I always had the sense that I’d get through it.

"The gift it gave me was time with myself. I went into prison sober. I knew I had a lot of work to do. I’ve worked very hard at getting myself back in shape, getting my career back, getting my self-respect back.

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"I knew it would take time, and it has. But I’m starting to feel the rewards of that work."

The singer has been out of drugs for eight years now, although it took him years to confess his addiction. He thinks it was a “relief” to admit his condition.

He told ES magazine: "When I finally did, I was like, ‘What a relief! That’s what I am!’

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"My appetite for self-destruction and misery is greatly diminished. I’m not interested in being unhappy."