Boy George on His Parents’ Violent Marriage: ‘I Saw Some Terrible Things’ (Exclusive Excerpt)

The Culture Club frontman remembers his tumultuous childhood home life and his journey toward music stardom in his new memoir ‘Karma’

Boy George is reflecting on his life as a chameleon — and the view is clearer than ever.

In his new memoir Karma, out Jan. 9 from Mango Publishing, the singer and '80s pop icon, 62, discusses the people who have come in and out of his life, in a conversational style.

“I've just stuck to things that I think were funny observations about meeting other people,” he tells PEOPLE for the Jan. 22 issue. “It’s just kind of more chatty — it's not a history book.”

Born George O’Dowd in South East England, George takes readers from his childhood growing up one of six in an Irish Catholic family to his early days in the London music scene. George would serve a short tenure in the new-wave band Bow Wow Wow before becoming the frontman of the Grammy-winning '80s group Culture Club.

In Karma, he offers his perspective on the band’s heyday, his rocky romantic and professional relationship with drummer Jon Moss and his interactions with other household names like Madonna and Prince.

Related: Boy George Recalls the Moment His Hero Muhammad Ali Told Him 'You're a Very Pretty Boy'

George also uses Karma, which comes after his 1995 memoir Take It Like a Man, to discuss some of the more difficult aspects of his life, including his experience with addiction, his legal troubles and his parents’ tumultuous marriage.

In an excerpt shared exclusively with PEOPLE, George reflects upon his intense childhood environment.

Everyone knew my dad and loved him. Outside of the house he was charm personified. Inside, though, he was a Jekyll with nothing to hide. He always seemed to be in a bad mood and exploded over the stupidest things. 

He could be brutal but he was also charismatic. He treated my mum very badly, but in a weird way they loved each other. Mum was definitely committed to the idea of marriage and family. A bit of a martyr to the cause. She tried so hard to make it work, to make the house beautiful, but my dad’s paint tins, sacks of concrete and jealousy made it impossible. If Mum put on a nice dress, she was having an affair. A dress or a skirt was too short. A jumper too figure hugging. Mum had great style but she never got to fully realise it in Dad’s company. 

Dad had the potential to be such an amazing human being, but that temper, that temper. Mum was no pushover, though. Dad’s mother would say to Mum every time he hit her, ‘Why do you make him angry? Why do you have to answer him back?’ Knowing Mum as I do now, she would never have accepted that but still signed up for a life of being devalued. 

It’s sad to remember those times. When Mum was hurt, she filled the house with sadness. You would come home from school and almost feel the pain through the front door. Mum would be in her dressing gown and the milk would still be on the doorstep. I would say to Mum, ‘Why do you let him treat you like that, why don’t we leave?’ The few times Mum did leave and went to her mother’s in Birmingham, she was sent back the following day. 

‘You can’t keep a father away from his children.’ 

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I saw some terrible things. I came home from school one day and Mum was under the table screaming up at Dad, who was holding a knife. I went so crazy it startled even him and he backed off. He insisted he was making a sandwich; he wasn’t pointing the knife at Mum. But why was she under the table? It’s stayed with me all these years. Those rage-filled moments can easily end in tragedy.

Extracted from KARMA My Autobiography by Boy George, published by Mango Publishing. Copyright © George Alan O’Dowd 2023.

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