HE INSTIGATED a three-car pile up and has been accused of a reliance on cannabis, but George Michael has a simple explanation for his recent difficulties — it’s all Elton John’s fault.

The star submitted himself to a television confessional at the hands of Michael Parkinson after a tumultuous week and claims that his life is running out of control. Almost a decade ago the pop star chose a live television interview to acknowledge his homosexuality after being arrested for lewd conduct in Los Angeles.

But under Parkinson’s questioning, Michael offered a defiant explanation of recent events. He was questioned by police this week after allegedly smashing into three parked cars near his North London home. In February he was cautioned for cannabis possession after police found him slumped behind the wheel at Hyde Park Corner.

Michael, 42, said that the root of his difficulties was a gibe made by his sometime friend Sir Elton two years ago, when he was accused of “wasting his talent” by refusing to sing live because he suffered from “a deep-rooted unhappiness”.

Michael said: “He hadn’t seen me for years and from that moment on I’ve suffered this kind of wishful thinking from the press. I have to be honest. The subtext is, ‘He was all right before he came out and now he lives this depraved gay life and he’s miserable and he’s fat’. It’s a new angle because Elton said he thought I was really miserable for some reason and from that point on I’ ve been trying to prove that I’m not.”

In the ITV1 programme, screened tomorrow night, Michael said that another factor in the crash was his excitement at recording a duet with Tony Bennett that day.