Richard and Judy on when George Michael came round for Sunday lunch
Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan have shared a heartwarming story about George Michael coming to their home for Sunday lunch, and discovered the singer was just as starstruck as they were.
The couple, who have worked in TV together since the 80s, told Kate Thornton about the time Michael had donated £50,000 on the first day of a This Morning Christmas charity appeal in the late 90s and they called him up to say 'thanks'.
Speaking on White Wine Question Time, Richard said he called the singer to thank him, because Judy was too shy to do so, before inviting him over for a roast dinner since his Highgate home was not far from them in Hampstead, north London.
Having invited him over, Richard said: "I put the phone down, and I turned around and Judy was standing on her head. I've never seen never seen my wife do a handstand before but she was standing on her head. [We] just couldn't believe that George f****** Michael was coming to our house for lunch."
WATCH: Richard & Judy on when George Michael came round for Sunday lunch
Richard said the door went at bang on one o'clock, the time they had agreed. "I go to the door and open it," he said. "And there is George. It's like a Beatle standing on your doorstep. There's George Michael with his shades and his leathers and his stubble. And he looked great because he was about to go on tour."
The couple both described him as 'a lovely man' with Richard saying it was a little bit strange at first, but 'after a few minutes, we got on and they were here for hours'.
He remembered the singer coming into the kitchen just before he served up, saying he didn't want any carbs, and having to admit he didn't know what he meant.
Richard said: "He said: 'I'm going on tour in a couple of weeks and I'm still losing weight. So no potatoes, no parsnips, none of that. I'll just have the meat and the gravy and the greens.' Fine.
"So I gave him a plate with no carbs. And you know what, in one minute he'd picked up his fork and he was nicking roasties off everybody else's plate, stuffing them in his face!"
Thornton, who said she felt 'very, very, very lucky' to have known the singer, told the pair she knew about the Sunday roast already, because he had told her as well.
She told them: "He went: 'I went to f****** Richard and Judy's house.' He was just starstruck as you, you loons!"
Richard said no one had ever told them that before.
Michael was found dead on Christmas day 2016, at the age of 53. Richard said the couple had stayed friends with him for a few years before 'got lost in serious drug use'.
Read more: Richard and Judy describe when they first met: 'He thinks a lot of himself!'
He added: "He withdrew from everybody. You couldn't talk to him, you couldn't help him. You couldn't grab him by the elbow and drag him back.
"He just disappeared into drug abuse and then of course died and it was horrible. It was a real waste of a human being and of a musical genius and of a lovely man."
Thornton agreed, saying the singer had left a 'handprint' on her, and adding: "Whatever his predilections may have been, or his substance abuse, he remains the most generous [man] and with the kindest of hearts."
She also said that like Judy, she was very shy around Michael at first, admitting she refused to take his number when he called in to Loose Women once and left it for her because she was worried she'd 'show herself up' if she had a few drinks and called him up.
Eventually she left her number for him and she said: "We would have these extraordinarily wonderful gossipy conversations on the phone where he'd ring up and just ask me the most random things about something he'd seen on telly.
"If I couldn't sort of enlighten him on a certain rumour or piece of gossip, he might say, I'll give Richard a call."
WATCH: Richard & Judy on being friends with George Michael, their relationship with social media, and enjoying life outside of television