Publications
Partners
London - Pop star George Michael said he deserved to be jailed for a month for crashing his car while high on cannabis, describing his time inside as karma, in a BBC radio interview.
The former Wham! singer said he was now receiving therapy over his drug abuse issues and was "ashamed" to have broken the law repeatedly.
The 47-year-old was jailed in September last year after admitting driving under the influence of drugs.
"I was assured I wasn't going to prison but I thought I was, and it was much easier to take because I felt it was deserved," he said, in an interview to be broadcast on Monday.
"This was a hugely shameful thing to have done repeatedly so karmically I felt like I had a bill to pay. I went to prison, I paid my bill.
"Remarkably enough - I know people must think it was a really horrific experience - it's so much easier to take any form of punishment if you believe you actually deserve it, and I did."
Besides his jail term, Michael was also been banned from driving for five years and was forced to pay fines and costs worth 1 590 euros.
The singer said he felt he was jailed partly because "I'm George Michael and the poster boy for cannabis".
Michael, whose real name is Georgios Panayiotou, said many fellow musicians wrote to him in jail, including Paul McCartney, Elton John and Boy George.
Describing his first night in prison, he said: "It wasn't a weekend break, put it that way.
"I didn't feel sorry for myself. I thought, 'Oh my God, this place is absolutely filthy'.
"I just thought, 'you get your head down'."
He said his last night inside was "great", with "every single staff member" and prisoner getting his autograph - some of them on headed prison paper.
The singer - who first found fame in 1980s pop group Wham! and has gone on to sell more than 100 million records worldwide - has a long history with drugs and scrapes with the law.
In June 2007, Michael was given a two-year driving ban after pleading guilty to driving while unfit the previous October, when he was found collapsed in his car.
In 1998 he was fined after making lewd advances to an undercover male police officer in a public toilet in Beverly Hills, California.
