Andrew Ridgeley has claimed George Michael battled with an "eternal conflict" because he didn't want to "be a star".

The 63-year-old singer has reflected on his late Wham! bandmate's complicated relationship with fame and the way he constructed a pop star "character" in order to be himself in private.

Speaking about George, whose real name was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. Andrew told Fox News Digital: "He didn't want to be a star … in the sense of constantly projecting himself.

"George Michael was a character that he created in order for him to fulfill his artistic destiny as a songwriter and a singer and a musician.

"But he wanted to live his life as Yog, you know, rather than as George Michael. There was always that conflict for him, and it was an eternal conflict, and one that he never fully resolved."

George - who died on Christmas Day 2016 at the age of 53 as a result of heart and liver disease - came out as gay in 1998 and Andrew doesn't think fans realised how much he often struggled in the spotlight.

He said: "I don't think ... he was misunderstood. People weren't appraised of all the facts for a long time, you know, and he was a very, very private man."

Despite his complex relationship with fame, Andrew thinks the Careless Whisper singer would have been moved by the response to his life and work in the years following his death.

He said: "I think he would be very flattered by the depth of feeling that is held for him by how his memory has been honoured, how his talent is recognised, how he is fêted and adored.

"I think that that would have been very special to him, and he would have been very humbled by it."

And the I'm Your Man hitmaker thinks the biggest "misunderstanding" around his late pal was just how talented he truly was.

Andrew said: "People probably didn't understand the depth of his talent for a long time.

"That is bewildering and has always been bewildering ... If there's any misunderstanding, it was over the sheer scale of his talent."