Following the death of George Michael, people on social media have been flagging the incredible charitable work he did, much of which slipped under the radar.
Pointless host Richard Osman shared an extraordinary example of his secret benevolence:
A woman on 'Deal Or No Deal' told us she needed £15k for IVF treatment. George Michael secretly phoned the next day and gave her the £15k.
A woman responded to Osman claiming to be the recipient of the money, and said that she never knew it came from Michael. BuzzFeed News has contacted her to find out more.
Comedian David Walliams later revealed that Michael had made a huge donation to Sport Relief.
There are lots of stories about #GeorgeMichael 's legendary generosity emerging today. When I swam the channel he gave @sportrelief £50,000.
Others have added their examples of the singer's kindness.
@richardosman he gave a stranger in a cafe £25k as she was crying over debt. Told the waitress to give her the cheque after he left.
I wrote in a piece ages ago about a celeb I'd worked with tipping a barmaid £5k because she was a student nurse in debt. Was George Michael.
George Michael worked anonymously at a homeless shelter I was volunteering at. I've never told anyone, he asked we didn't. That's who he was
@EmilyneMondo Also donated a lot of cash to Children's dental care in Africa, in excess of £100,000 each summer
His support for the LGBTQ community, the NHS and the miners marked George Michael out as an activist as well as a g… https://t.co/5VPizdiG5M
George Michael was also the only star on HWTBAMillionaire who, when gambling all the charity's cash, said "if I lose it, I'll just pay it".
N.B. You can watch this happen here.
Getting rather weepy this morning reading about George Michael's penchant for small acts of kindness that changed people's lives.
Childline founder Esther Rantzen said Michael dedicated the proceeds from the song "Jesus to a Child" to the charity and that he was determined that no one outside the charity should know "how much he gave to the nation's most vulnerable children."
Michael's official website points out much of his altruism was "undocumented". However, it does list some of the publicly known work he did, including:
• His performance on Band Aid’s "Do They Know It’s Christmas"
• The fact Wham! royalties from the "Last Christmas/Everything She Wants" single were donated to Ethiopian famine relief.
• The proceeds from "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" going to AIDS hospice London Lighthouse and the Rainbow Trust children’s charity.
• His work for AIDS research charity the Red Hot Foundation, his appearance on the War Child charity album, and appearances at the NetAid and Equality Rocks charity shows.
•The money he raised for Comic Relief with his version of "True Faith".
CORRECTION
Richard Osman is the host of Pointless. An earlier version of this post stated he had hosted Deal or No Deal.