Confirming music industry rumors and fan suspicions, British pop star George Michael announced Friday that he is gay.

The CNN interview was Michael's first public statement since Beverly Hills police arrested him last Tuesday for allegedly engaging in a lewd act in a public restroom. The 34-year-old singer told reporter Jim Moret he felt angry and foolish about last week's incident, but that he's not ashamed about his sexuality.

"I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way, but I don't feel any shame whatsoever," he said. "I don't think I ever wanted to address [my sexuality] and certainly not quite this way."

During the height of his solo career, Michael penned such sexual songs as "I Want Your Sex" and "Father Figure," but stopped dating women shortly after those singles helped the album Faith sell more than 7 million copies. The international sex symbol began dating men in the early 1990s, and since then he said his music has been "fairly obviously about men."

Like actress Ellen DeGeneres, Michael did not keep his secret well. Gossip circled around the man with the famous five o'clock shadow, but during the CNN interview Michael called the press "a real demon" and said it had no right to know about his personal life. It wasn't until his arrest last week that the pop icon decided to come clean and tell his fans he is "OK."

"I knew I was going to do this from the moment I was arrested," he said. "I probably owe an apology to fans that have been supportive and have not wanted to believe that any of this was true."

Due to legal reasons, Michael said he could not disclose additional information about the arrest. Beverly Hills police announced that undercover officers arrested the singer -- born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou -- alone in a public bathroom at Will Rogers Park late last Tuesday, booked him for engaging in lewd conduct and released him on $500 bail.

"I think it was the danger of the situation that must have compelled me to do it because it was absolutely compulsive," said Michael, who lives just blocks from the site of his arrest.

A high school drop-out at age 17, Michael achieved superstardom just one year later as half of the pop duo Wham!, which broke the charts in 1984 with the singles "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Careless Whisper." Michael parted ways with collaborator Andrew Ridgeley in 1986, and released the platinum album Faith one year later. His following work, 1990's Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 and 1996's Older, sold less than 2 million copies combined.

During the late 1980s, Michael said he felt "miserable at the center of that kind of fame" and first began questioning his sexuality. The two-time Grammy winner has kept his sexual preferences ambiguous until now.

"Ultimately at the end of the day I'm not ashamed. I'm just pissed with myself for having been so stupid," he said. "And I'm perfectly prepared to believe that as long as I am truthful to myself and truthful to the people who are out there with my music then I have nothing to fear." (Anni Layne)