(Reuters) – British singer George Michael remains in hospital under observation for head injuries, five days after a car accident, his publicist said on Tuesday.
“I can confirm that George remains in hospital but purely as a standard precaution for observation because he suffered some bumps and cuts to his head. But he’s making good progress, he’s fine and he’s really looking forward to getting home,” the spokeswoman said.
British media have reported that the 49-year-old former Wham! front man fell out of a car he was travelling in on the M1 motorway just outside London during rush hour – the latest of a string of recent accidents and health scares.
The tabloid Sun newspaper interviewed a woman who said she had skidded to a halt after the singer fell out of the vehicle in front of her, and that she had used her car to shield him from other vehicles.
“There was a nasty cut on his forehead and the back of his head. There was blood all down his face and on his teeth,” the Sun reported driver Katherine Fox as saying.
Last year, the “Careless Whisper” singer cancelled a tour of Australia due to “major anxiety” brought on by a 2011 battle with severe pneumonia in Vienna, where he was treated in intensive care for a month.
Michael has sold an estimated 100 million records over his career, but in the past few years has hit the headlines for his personal life more often than for his music.
In 1998 he was arrested in California for “engaging in a lewd act” in a public toilet. He has also had a number of run-ins with British police for possession of narcotics, and served time in jail for driving under the influence of cannabis.
(Reporting by Paul Casciato; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
