George Michael has dated a man for 13 years, was caught cruising, and looked like this in the 80s.

But that has still not convinced some of his family members who still think he might one day ‘find the right girl’.

The ‘Careless Whisper’ hitmaker came out as gay back in 1998 and has lived openly ever since.

But the 50-year-old says some relatives simply refuse to believe it.

Speaking to the BBC, Michael said: ‘For some strange reason, my gay life didn’t get easier when I came out. Quite the opposite happened, really.

‘The press seemed to take some delight that I previously had a “straight audience,” and set about trying to destroy that.

‘And I think some men were frustrated that their girlfriends wouldn’t let go of the idea that George Michael just hadn’t found the “right girl” yet. Which is still what a lot of my extended family still think!’

The Wham! frontman added he had not been open back in the 1980s and 90s because he wanted to protect his mother.

‘It’s about family,’ he said. ‘In the years when HIV was a killer, any parent of an openly gay person was terrified.

‘I knew my mother well enough that she would spend every day praying that I didn’t come across that virus. She’d have worried like that.’

A live album recorded during Michael’s Symphonica tour is released this week in the UK, ahead of a new studio album next year.