How do we feel about Boy George these days, like as a culture as a whole? Do we care? Do we regard him with a sort of fuzzy universal sense of nostalgia? Do we frantically skim his Wikipedia page to see if he’s had some terrible scandal we’ve forgotten about or if he’s still a mostly pretty-good all-around fun-time guy? Do we sometimes get the real-life him mixed up with the Alexis Arquette version from The Wedding Singer?
Well, no matter how you feel about Boy George, I can pretty much guarantee that recent photos of him will prompt MANY, MANY QUESTIONS:
When fellow MamaPop overlord Tracey sent me these photos, she asked if anyone knew why Boy George has been living in a storage facility, which really WOULD account for many, many things:
1) The stacked towers of plastic storage bins (which: I HAVE THE SAME ONES. They are from Target). I feel oddly comforted in that special “Stars! They’re Just Like Us! They live in borderline clutter-squalor and consider The Container Store catalog to be the ultimate aspirational glossy too!” way.
2) The fact that Boy George does not appear to have stepped out into the sun since the 1980s. (HE’S 51 YEARS OLD, Y’ALL.)
3) WTF HAT. Is he crafting his wardrobe based on found items from inside his storage bins? Or does he just have a raging Etsy habit like the rest of us?
Much is being made about his noticeable weight loss, yes. He looks quite thin compared to photos from the past few years:
Boy George in 2009, right around the time he was sent to jail for false imprisonment of a male escort in his hotel room. (He served four months of a 15-month sentence.)
Boy George in 2011.
And now, in 2013:
I won’t lie: My first thought was something like drugsdrugsdrugs. But according to Boy George’s (highly entertaining) Twitter account, it’s all diet.
Boy George, who was born George Alan O’Dowd, attributes his weight loss to Amelia Freer’s Freer Nutrition plan.
“@BoyGeorge you look incredibly slim. Please don’t say it’s all down to raw veg?” a follower Tweeted.
“No, portion control. 5 hour gaps between meals. No coffee or tea, except at meals. Water & fizzy water between meals!” he replied, later adding: “No bread, sugar!”
The singer has also been sharing photos of his meals – “”spicy broccoli cheese from lunch” and “Cannelloni bean & veggie curry,” featuring what appears to be a medley of root vegetables.
He described a picture of yellow crumbles posted on January 27 as “Scrambled tofu, sautéed with garlic, Waitrose Thai (frozen) herb mix and turmeric! Add mushrooms! Or any veg!”
I’d hit that.
Celebrity food p0rn. Probably why Teh Twitter was invented, if you think about it.
Anyway, all snark aside, GOOD FOR GEORGE, y’all. Losing weight is hard enough, and to do it in the public eye where you know every bad shot of your double chin is going to get posted ALL OVER THE INTERNET would not be pleasant. Also! Boy George published a macrobiotic cookbook back in 2001 called Karma Cooking, so he’s obviously struggled with maintenance and falling off the wagon, like…well, 99.9999% of us have at some point. Plus, it sounds like Boy George has his shit together and is enjoying being healthy and eating well without sucking the fun and deliciousness out of it (a la Her Royal Goopy Cleanse Personal Fishmonger Highness).
Though I still do have a lot of questions about that hat.
About Amy Corbett Storch
