Boy George is mourning the death of his mother, Dinah O’Dowd. Representatives for The Culture Club singer, real name George O’Dowd, confirmed in a statement to MailOnline that Dinah passed away on Monday, March 13 at the age of 84, sharing that George is “devastated” by the loss and is requesting privacy at this time. A cause of death was not disclosed.
Although George, 61, has yet to publicly comment on the devastating loss, his manager PK said in a statement, “I am very sad to confirm the news of The passing of Boy George’s beloved mother Dinah. George is devastated as are the family.” The statement went on to confirm that George and other members of the family “were all by her bedside when she passed and George was holding her hand.”
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“He wants me to extend his deep gratitude to the huge out pouring of love and support he is receiving and whilst he can’t respond he feels grateful and the messages help,” the statement continued. “George and his family would politely now request some privacy to be able to grieve and come to terms with their heartbreaking loss.”
George and his mother had a notably close relationship, with Dinah previously telling the Mirror, “George and I are very close and I’m so very proud of him. He is always there for me, so his reaction wasn’t a surprise, and I am waiting to hug him when he gets home.” George was also open about his relationship with his mother, expressing his heartbreak when he revealed in 2020 that Dinah was hospitalized for two days with “heart or lung problems.” At the time, George asked his followers to pray for his “beautiful mother.”
Later pening up about the ordeal on ITV reality show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! last year, per Yahoo Entertainment, George told fellow campmate, former health secretary Matt Hancock, I thought she was going to die. I was tweeting Greenwich hospital going, ‘Please look after my mum.’ I used my name, I was like ‘Please look after my mum.’ And they did, she was fine… If I had lost my mum, I would go. And I feel a little bit selfish, you know, just kind of… everyone’s so nice to him and I was like Jesus, what are we going to do? I don’t want to spoil this experience for myself.”
Dinah’s passing follows the 2003 death of George’s father, Jeremy. George has four brothers and one sister. His friend, DJ Fat Tony, paid tribute to Dinah on Instagram, writing, “God bless you you amazing woman Dinah ….my heart goes out to [Boy George] and the entire O Dowd family what an incredible beautiful strong woman we will miss you x.”
