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Michael interview withdrawn from HIV programme

21/09/2007

An interview in which George Michael discusses his attitude towards HIV has been removed from a forthcoming BBC documentary on the pop star's request.

Stephen Fry: HIV and Me, a BBC2 documentary, had been due to feature an interview with Michael, whose former partner Anselmo Feleppa died in 1995 because of an Aids-related illness.

Earlier the programme's producer, Ross Wilson, revealed that Michael said he avoids tests because "he finds the wait for results too harrowing".

Wilson said Michael had admitted not having had an HIV test since 2004 because he was to afraid to confront the potential for a positive result.

A spokesperson for the 44-year-old Michael said: "On reflection, he felt it was too close and too personal a journey, and he asked for his contribution to be removed. It was too personal for Anselmo's family to revisit."

The Stephen Fry documentary sees the intellectual writer and broadcaster explore Britain's uncertain relationship with the virus.

Fry is confronted with warnings that "we're losing the fight against Aids" and the show involves interviews with infected people from widely different backgrounds across the country.