George Michael’s many acts of generosity, often conducted under condition of anonymity, have come to light since the star’s death in 2016.

Now, his backing singer Shirley Lewis has revealed that she was also the beneficiary of his great kindness, when she found herself struggling financially.

Lewis, who was married at the time to Bros drummer Luke Goss told The Mirror newspaper that she had been worrying about where she woud live with her daughter and had sold her watch for £5,000 but was left frantic when the envelope of cash went missing.

She told the newspaper:

“I was talking to George on the phone and suddenly burst into tears. He asked what was wrong and I told him my husband and I were in a really bad place and I’d lost some cash, and he said he was going to give me some money and hung up. The next day I woke up and he’d deposited £50,000 into my account!”

She shared she’d called him the next day and said that she couldn’t take his money, but the star was insistent and told her that he didn’t want her to “worry.” 

George Michael died on Christmas Day 2016. On that sad day and since, many people have come forward with anecdotes of how the singer stepped in to help them – from a woman on a UK TV show who couldn’t afford IVF treatment to have a baby until she received a secret donation, to a waitress in a restaurant whom the star overheard sharing her money worries, and he wrote her a check on the spot for thousands of pounds.

George Michael was a worldwide solo star following his breakthrough with his pop band Wham! in the mid-1980s. He sold an estimated 120million records and was reported to have a fortune of £97million ($120million) at his death.