Andrew Ridgeley Says Wham! Bandmate George Michael's Decision to Delay Coming Out 'Had a Personal Cost' (Exclusive)

The member of the '80s pop duo tells PEOPLE that George Michael struggled after coming out in 1998

Andrew Ridgeley saw firsthand how former bandmate George Michael personally struggled after coming out.

“George’s journey and mine were inseparable,” the 60-year-old Wham! star tells PEOPLE. “Shirlie was my girlfriend, we met right before my 18th birthday, and George, Shirlie and I did everything together for two or three years. He had a really close, firm, loyal friend in Shirlie with whom he could be himself and confide.”

Ridgeley says that when his bandmate came out to him in a hotel room in Ibiza, it was “unremarkable” news. “Shirlie told me George was anxious about telling me, which I found a little surprising,” the English musician says about former girlfriend and singer Shirlie Kemp. “When he told me it was like, ‘Oh, well, yeah. That explains a few things,’ but it was unremarkable. It was unsensational.”

When it came to telling the rest of the world, which Michael eventually did on live television in 1998, Ridgeley was more fearful.

“George was thinking ‘Yeah, I’ll just come out and say it,’ and I thought, ‘Well, how’s this gonna change anything for us? The music’s still great and once the initial sort of hullabaloo is over, then it’ll probably be just that,” Ridgeley says about Michael’s delayed coming-out announcement.

He continues, “But that was not the case, and George says that for him personally, that was the wrong decision. It was a decision to wait because we were fearful of how his father would react, along with the press and the label. He was all ifs and buts, but the fact is the decision was taken not to make his sexuality public, and that personally cost him."

Related: Andrew Ridgeley on the Last Time He Saw Wham! Bandmate George Michael Before His Death (Exclusive)

Watching Michael grapple with his sexuality was difficult for Ridgeley.

“You know, you were an ally before we even had the term. He originally came out as bisexual to you and then later, of course, acknowledged that he was, in fact gay,” the “Last Christmas” singer tells PEOPLE. “You were that allyship. You were fully baked in from the beginning, and you watched him struggle with all of that.”

According to Ridgeley, the direct effects Michael’s coming-out announcement had on his life were not resolved before his death in 2016. “I think it is fairly unarguable. He made the point that it had a personal cost, which I don’t think he ever quite reconciled.”

Related: George Michael's Ex-Partner and Friends Remember Star in New Doc: 'He Always Had a Good Heart'

A new Netflix documentary on the duo, WHAM!, was released Wednesday and is available to stream now. For more from Andrew Ridgeley, pick up the latest issue on PEOPLE, on newsstand everywhere Friday.

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