TAKE IT LIKE A MAN: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BOY GEORGE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Boy George, Spencer Bright | 500 pages | 07 Aug 2012 | It Books | 9780062117786 | English | New York, United States Take It Like a Man (autobiography) - Wikipedia I saw this vision dancing on a platform. He had black eye make- up on and a skirt and a weird Egyptian collar and leather gloves and pit boots. He was dancing like a mad goblin. I can remember saying to Laura, "We've got to get friendly with him. I said, "Go in and borrow his black lipstick. I started regularly commuting to his house in Dollis Hill. Philip was this pied piper and all these freaks and punks and suburban kids used to commute to his house on Fridays and we'd all get into different cars and go off to various clubs and gigs. He was our guru. He was 10 years older than me and he knew the Sex Pistols and was far more outrageous than we could ever have hoped to have been at that point. Early on, I sheepishly said to Philip, "Excuse me, can I ask you a personal question? He said, "Why, are you? I was not interested in him sexually, but as a friend. We've never slept with each other. We're sisters. The thing about Philip was that he was really dressed up but he wasn't pretentious. We thought if we looked a certain way it made us more important than other people. Philip put that idea to rest quite quickly. He always used to say, "A lot of people dress up to disguise the fact that they've got nothing to say. When you first meet him he can come across as being quite vacuous. On the surface he gives a lot away, but really he's only giving you a small percentage of who he is. It is hard work getting to know him, because he doesn't let that many people in. I've known him for odd years and I think we still have problems being intimate. As I got older and more worldly I realised that Philip was much more insecure than I ever thought. His banter and his drag were like an armour, which I think we have in common. It was protecting vulnerability, stopping people from getting too close. I've learnt to be less defensive as I've got older and I've calmed down quite a lot. That's affected the way I relate to Philip. He has all these bizarre concepts about me. He has this obsession that I want to be a woman. I just laugh at him because once something gets into Philip's mind that's it. He has an incredible knowledge of fashion history. I think it's a shame that he doesn't put it to better use - in some ways he's a wasted genius. When he did the party for my book launch he went absolutely over the top and created this mad psychotic school environment and he wouldn't let anybody in unless they turned up in costume. I think it's good that Philip is like that. When he does something, he does it properly. We had a really bad falling-out for about a year when I was It was about a straight guy I used to get off with. Philip hated him because he wasn't honest. Because I was madly in love I fell out with Philip. I always used to see him everywhere. He would make a point of walking past me and sticking his nose in the air and making sure no one talked to me. They all talked to me anyway. They just didn't talk to me in front of him. I sent him a voodoo doll. I don't listen to Philip's opinions about my music. I always find them a bit loopy. The first gig that Culture Club did at Heaven, he walked around saying, "I can't bear other people being adored. He had a flat in St John's Wood which he wasn't living in. I lived there for the first two years of Culture Club. So that flat became besieged. Philip used to come round and scream at all the fans. Philip finds the idea of having fans really creepy. Philip has never done drugs and he hated it when I did. He blamed everyone else around me. He would tell people that they were evil and were destroying me. Our friendship suffered slightly because I was hanging out with people I did drugs with. He would never let me do drugs in his house. He is really anti-drugs, to the point of being ridiculous. We are probably better friends now than we have ever been. We see each other two or three times a week. We play Scrabble at Philip's flat until four in the morning. Philip never leaves his flat. It's like a sanctuary. If you're feeling depressed he cooks for you. He's like a Jewish housewife. He's somebody I can always rely on in a crisis. There is a certain amount of bitchiness that goes on between us and quite a lot of insecurity, but when the chips are down, he'll jump straight into a cab, and vice versa. Whenever Philip has had any kind of trauma in his life - when his mum died, when he got stabbed in the Eighties, when a couple of years ago he got beaten up - I've always been there. I was parading around at Bangs, knowing George and this girl were staring. I think I had a skirt on. It wasn't drag, it was like a spaceman thing, black, down to the ground from the hips, and then nothing on top except a big Gary Glitter collar, and my hair all up. We spoke and I gave him my number, then he rang me afterwards. He asked me if I was gay. What a question to ask somebody looking like me! I said, "What do you care? I never got off with him ever, not even slightly. He's a friend. We went everywhere together. When somebody is impressed by you it boosts your ego, and obviously he was a bit impressed. But it wasn't just based on that - we went out to clubs and talked on the phone all the time. That's what friendship is. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Sep 13, Amy Elizabeth rated it it was amazing. I just spent a week with Boy George - I could not put it down. I was one of those fat preteens that he writes about not wanting to be a role model for. I did not realize how young he was when I looked up to him. I thought his message of "everyone can be whatever they want to be" was so original and life changing. Turns out he was self loathing and in pain for years. A very candid book with great pictures. He had several near misses with death and all the sordid details are included. I even I just spent a week with Boy George - I could not put it down. I couldn't tell - you fooled us all, George. Good for you. Jan 29, Rob Powell rated it it was amazing. He quite clearly doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks of him and the amount of self-dirt dished is staggering. George O'Dowd was clearly never going to be an 'ordinary' man and that's what makes his story such a fascinating read. This reader was left feeling deep admiration for George's candidness in relating events that really do not put him in a good light. I would imagine anyone who ever read this book is While never a fan of Culture Club I always found Boy George an intriguing character. I would imagine anyone who ever read this book is left with the same question on their mind when closing it for the final time - what were the bits he left out, and why? View 2 comments. I love Boy George; people always ask me why and sometimes I can't give them an answer. I decided to read this book so that I could maybe put together a response that made sense. The first chunk of this book is good and interesting, with George's childhood home life, teenage runaway troubles, and everything leading up to the formation and success of Culture Club. The second half was harder to read and slower, despite it being about his failures involving the band and drugs. Now, I can say that I love George for his beauty, his wit, his attitude, his daring choices, his honesty, and everything that he has gone through and come out stronger for. This book covers things that the media never did, such as the extent of his abusive relationship with Jon Moss, the way he dealt with fans versus how he really felt about them, and the struggles of the band Culture Club that seem to fall on all his shoulders. Sometimes, it got confusing when George would introduce people he knew, talk about them for a few paragraphs, and either never mention them again or bring them back hundreds of pages later. This book definitely isn't for anyone who doesn't already love the 80s and the Boy, but I did enjoy reading it for the most part.