Liverpool Echo from Liverpool, Merseyside, England • 7

I Liverpool Echo, Monday November 2, 1987 7 Fallen star picks up the pieces chameleon The changing face of Boy George they say," and he shakes his head with one of those lucky to be alive gestures. "A lot of people seemed to think I was going to die when I was on heroin. It does screw you up. It does kill you. Nobody should ever get involved with it ever.

know, it is the same with AIDS. A few years ago there was no threat now we can all die. You have got to be so Sex is something, he says, he has matured into. George has said he first slept with a man when he was 14. The homosexual factor is something he has come to terms with in his life, and yet he still says he would not mind having kids one day.

There have been love affairs, people like Jon Moss and Marilyn. He says he is still close to Jon Moss, but Marilyn is not a name he mentions when he talks of friends. But yes, he does still believe in good old love. "I have been in love and out of it. It leaves its scars.

You learn by your mistakes. but I would never tomorrow had a lot going for it from the outset. With only four weeks to film it, we all thought of it as a labour of love. Seeing the rushes at the end made it all seem worthwhile. playing the depressing Petra in Brookside it was a relief, believe me, to be away from the soap character even though I am proud of my involvement in Brookside.

"Being spotted and chased in Bold Street was result of Brookside and I didn't even see the episode in which I was killed off. "But there is life after soaps. I didn't get typecast. It was refreshing to be called an actress after Brezhnev and am very proud of that film." While on tour Alex has gone for post-performance walks with co-star Andrew Sachs, the man who played foil to John Cleese in Fawity Towers as the Spanish waiter Manuel. suppose people expect him 0 Above: in January this year when appearing at the inquest of his friend Mark Golding.

Far left: at the height of his popularity in the early eighties. Left: Arrested for using heroin. Right: A new look for '85. anything, not anything They have their problems. I have gaunt, anguished anorexic addict.

Now, well, he looks flabulous! He is fuller, rounder than the publicity pictures that cover the floor of the suite. He wants you to print those. The image has to be maintained. But right here is the George that not many people see. No make-up.

just a pale skin and tired eyes. The Boy stripped bare and smoking cigarette after cigarette. Not quite chain-smoking, though. The link is broken because he has to stop after every cigarette to remove a small plastic filter which he places on each new tip. But he is as open as he can be: "I never really let people know the real me.

You can't. It's the same for all of us. No matter how much I try I could never know how you really felt inside, or say how a woman feels like when she has a baby. "Sometimes the feelings come across in a song. That is one way, but well people always want to know about the real me.

have made mistakes in my life. especially in the last few years. I've trusted people and had that trust broken. I've done things which when I look back I should not have done." There was a time back there when it was touch and go. But now he says be is free from heroin, free at last to get back to the music.

There is a wry irony that his new single is called To Be Reborn. Haunting It is a haunting ballad. The record company have high hopes of a Number One. George says that his music is better now. He has gone through creative phases with Culture Club.

but now he is definitely solo. There is a European tour about to start in Vienna, but no British dates. They will come. Things are not done with the same mad rush these days. He is a calmer chameleon.

"Life is always fragile. I am well aware of that. Look at that poor girl from Mel and Kim. I met her a few months ago and she seemed fine. Now she is dying of cancer so to be like that waiter all the time.

But he never refers to it. After all, he only made 12 episodes and the whole thing only lasted three months. "That is often the drawback of being instantly recognised for just the one thing. It is ironical that the public and media tend to think of you as an overnight success" says the woman who first gained an Equity card by dancing with a snake in clubs. variety act with a difference! New parts Alex now lives in Islington, London, where her agent looks out for new parts such as the role in Andrew Dalymeyer's Metaphysics and Strip production and a televison part in Red Dwarf.

She lives with producer Ber. nard Rose and she decided to base herself in the capital after regular commuting between change really." Not many stars survive the kind of media he gets. He says that now. though, he has stopped taking the tabloids! "I hate them, most of them are real scum. I have my list.

I know who they are. They want to crucify me, but well it is a game. I try not to do anything that will give them an Enjoyed Earlier in the week he had ripped a skirt from a woman photographer. "I really enjoyed that. She had been bugging me all night.

She just would not leave me alone, so humiliated her. made her feel what it was like to be looked at all the Life still has it high and low spots. "Fame does not make you immune from depression. In fact in some ways it makes you He adds: "I can feel just as down as some kid might do in Liverpool. mine.

It is probably a lot harder for kids in Liverpool to see their way ahead than it is for me. "I have always fought my way through. People have always tried to stop me, but I have so much energy that it makes me want to succeed. I remember back in the early years nobody gave me a chance, so I made my own chances. "I still want to be famous.

I still want to go on making music. Now more than ever. My music is the only thing that really does matter to me." He sits blinking in the gathering twilight. Outside the trees are still crashing to the ground. Inside Boy George there is still the memory of pain.

Despite the smiles and the grins, the laughs and all the assurances the eyes betray that all is still not well. There is a sadness there London taxi drivers never see. For the moment he is in between rounds, but George says when the bell goes he will come out fighting. He promises you that. Liverpool and London proved too exhausting.

"I hate it when I'm asked by reporters who question me on what I hope to do and all that. I never know what to answer. suppose that I want a good holiday next, especiaily after Rita. "As for the future and the usual ambitions, I hope to get married and have kids and all that. "1 don't have that many regrets.

They are a waste of time. I just get on with As for today, Alexandra Pigg, actress and film star and Liverpool wag, will be polishing her Scouse accent for the hilarious on-stage confronation between Rita and Frank. can't wait to return to the 'Pool. can combine a lot of things, too, like seeing my Nephew Matthew. "It should be a good laugh yeah, a good laugh back home Alexandra Pigg "I don't have that many.