George Michael’s former partner Kenny Goss has claimed he used to flush the singer’s drugs down the toilet to try to end his addiction.

Michael, 53, who was found dead on December 25 last year, was killed by heart disease and a build-up of fat in his liver, which can be linked to drug and alcohol abuse.

Mr Goss, who was in a relationship with British singer for 15 years, said he would get rid of the drugs he found around the house but watched Michael’s decline in front of him.

In an interview to raise awareness about the pair’s charitable Goss-Michael Foundation, Mr Goss told The Sun on Sunday: “I would find drugs and flush everything down the toilet, thinking, ‘If I just get rid of it he won’t get more’. He was absent-minded, so would just think he’d lost them.”

He added: “I don’t think George necessarily thought he’d die young, but every time I looked into his eyes I thought, ‘My God I’m losing you, what is going on’.”

Mr Goss said when they first met, Michael only smoked a small amount of marijuana adding: “That was a gateway drug to the others. But it escalated. At one point he was smoking 25 joints a day.

“I saw him smoke weed all the time but never hardcore drugs. I heavily disapproved so he wouldn’t be around me in that state.

“He shielded me and his family. He had another group of friends he’d do that with.”

Michael’s battle with substances was well documented, and in October 2006 he was found slumped over the wheel of his car.

The following May he pleaded guilty to driving while unfit through drugs and was banned from driving for two years.

In 2008 he was cautioned for possession of class-A drugs, which included crack cocaine, and class-C drugs, and in September 2010 he received an eight-week prison sentence and a five-year driving ban after he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of drugs and possessing cannabis.

Mr Goss, 58, said Michael’s drug use and his own drinking led to arguments between the pair, telling the paper: “When I confronted him, he never denied it, never apologised. He was hard on me about drinking, because I developed a problem.”

He added he believes if the pair had stayed together they could now both be dead.

“Of course I wish we’d never split up. But things would have had to change or we would both be dead.

“I wish we’d both been able to clean up.

“Our psychiatrist encouraged us to stay together even though it was a dysfunctional relationship.

“I asked him if I should leave George and he looked me in the eye and said, ‘I think you are the only reason George stays alive’.”

He added: “There was never a day I didn’t worry about him. Right until the end, I still loved him.”