Boy George has admitted that despite his efforts to be different, he has become the ‘gay version’ of his father, Jeremiah.

The Culture Club star, 63, whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd, revealed he tried everything to avoid becoming like his father but ended up being the most like him in the family.

Speaking on the Turning Points podcast on Wednesday, he told singer and pal Lulu: ‘I did everything I could not to be like my dad but turned out that I was the most like him of anyone – the gay version of my dad.

‘I went out of my way not to be like him, and I guess I soaked it up because you can’t not.’

The iconic singer revealed that growing up, there was a lack of love in his household, with his parents showing tolerance but little respect for each other.

He explained that he often longed for the things his parents didn’t have, noting there wasn’t much love in his family home, though there was a sense of tolerance between his parents.

Boy George has admitted that despite his efforts to be different, he has become the ‘gay version’ of his father, Jeremiah, as he opened up about their relationship on the Turning Points podcast on Wednesday (pictured in February 2025)

The Culture Club star, 63, whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd, revealed he tried everything to avoid becoming like his father but ended up being the most like him in the family (pictured with his dad in 1982)

The pop star added: ‘I wanted all the things that my parents didn’t have… there wasn’t much love… there was a tolerance… my parents did love each other no question, they just didn’t respect each other. So I grew up thinking that was normal – that screaming and shouting was what you did in a relationship and that consтιтuted love.’

Boy George previously spoke about his relationship with his father during his appearance on I’m A Celebrity back in 2022.

He shared a story with his campmates about how his father tried to humble him before a performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

As the campmates discussed generational differences, George explained how his dad didn’t express emotion as openly as parents might do today.

Sitting at the creek, comedian Babatúndé Aleshe asked Culture Club star George: ‘What was your dad’s reaction when you made it?’

George replied: ‘I was playing at the Albert Hall and it was kind of a big gig, it was kind of early on and my sister’s best friend’s husband said to my dad, ‘You must be really proud of him?’

‘My dad goes, ‘Yeah, he does what he does and I do what I do.”

Speaking in the Bush Telegraph, George added: ‘I think that comment was about, ‘Don’t blow smoke up his a*** because it’s not good for him.”

The iconic singer revealed that growing up, there was a lack of love in his household, with his parents showing tolerance but little respect for each other (Boy George’s parents during their younger years)

He previously spoke about his relationship with his father during his appearance on I’m A Celebrity back in 2022  (pictured on I’m A Celeb)

Boy George continued at the creek: ‘Or my mum used to say, ‘You never say you love me’ and he’d say, ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’

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‘My dad was a builder, owned his own firm. He was a gambler. He would take £10,000 and put it on a dog.

‘Dad would say, ‘Don’t answer the door… the bailiffs, or the gas man was coming…”

It comes after the news that despite his chart-topping career, the singer was turned down by his school after he asked to return for a visit back in March.

He attended Eltham Green during the 1970s, and the star confessed he doesn’t have the best memories of school looking back due to his experimental looks.

Yet the hitmaker hoped to return to give a talk to the current students, only to be told he wasn’t welcome for fear it would bring back ‘bad memories’ of the school.

It comes after the news that despite his chart-topping career, the singer was turned down by his school after he asked to return for a visit back in March (pictured in October 2024)

When Boy George attended the school was known for its bad reputation and out of control students, before it later became Harris Academy Greenwich and turned itself around.

In 2016 the school even received an outstanding rating by Ofsted and staff decided Boy George’s visit wouldn’t be fitting.

Speaking to the Telegraph, he admitted: ‘They wouldn’t let me in. I tried to go back to my school and they wouldn’t let me, because it became an academy.

‘When I went, it was the comprehensive, it was a mixed school with a terrible reputation.

‘So they thought that I was going to just bring back all those bad memories [of] when the school was on its downs.’