George Michael Released From English Jail Four Weeks Early

Crooner George Michael has been released from an English prison where he was serving an eight-week sentence for an September conviction for driving under the influence.

The Wham! singer, whose real name is Georgios Panayiotou, was released from Suffolk’s Highpoint Prison in East England on Monday morning after serving only four of the eight weeks handed down to him as penalty for driving under the influence and being in possession of marijuana.

“I just want to say thank you for everybody who has supported me in there. I just want to start again,” the pop singer said after his release. “I’m coming out here on my own so that you realize I’m going to start again,” Michael told reporters outside his home in north London.

Michael was sentenced on Sept. 14 after crashing his Land Rover into a photographic shop while driving under the influence of marijuana in the Northern London town of Hampstead on July 4.

Michael, 47, began his prison time at the infamous Pentonville Prison in London, know for its toughness, but was moved to Highpoint, a minimum-securit faculity, where George says guards and other inmates treated him kindly.

“Please believe me when I tell you that in the last three weeks there have been no tears, no anxiety, no bullying, in fact not so much as a sleepless night for me. On the contrary, I have been treated with kindness by fellow in-mates and prison staff alike and as far as I can tell, have received no special treatment of any kind whatsoever,” the Grammy winner wrote in a statement refuting tabloid reports that he was being mistreated behind bars.

“Most of my days have been spent reading thousands of letters and postcards of incredible support from people around the world. I promise to repay their kindness with new music as soon as I possibly can.”

The star has a history of drug and driving offenses. In 2007, he was banned from driving for two years and sentenced to 100 hours of community service after admitting to driving when unfit due to drugs. The following year, Michael apologized to fans after being arrested and cautioned by police for possession of drugs, promising to “sort himself out.”

In addition to his two-month sentence, the “Careless Whisper” crooner has been fined $1,988 and is prohibited from driving for the next five years.