Geri Horner has opened up about her relationship with “mentor, father figure and friend” George Michael as she prepares to release her first music in 12 years in his memory.

The former Spice Girl told the Sunday Mirror’s Notebook magazine how as a youngster she “planned to marry” the Wham! star, and she revealed he told her to ditch the “Ginger Spice” image after she quit the girl group – a “real poignant moment” in her life.

She said: “George pulled the platform boots off my feet and said, ‘I think it’s time we brushed your hair’.

Geri Horner and George Michael
Geri Horner and George Michael (Rebecca Naden/PA)

“He took me shopping and tried to make me more ladylike. He was stylish, so I trusted everything he picked for me.”

Horner, 44, befriended Michael at a mid-90s awards show. He took her in when she quit the girl group in 1998 and she lived in his house for nine months when her daughter Bluebell was born.

She said: “I was so vulnerable having had my first baby, I had nowhere to live and he invited me into his home. I lived there with a newborn for nine months.”

Horner discovered Michael had died on Christmas Day via Twitter, saying she was like the “walking wounded”.

Geri Horner single
Geri Horner’s new single for George Michael (The Outside Organisation/PA)

She added: “I didn’t believe it at first. I didn’t know how to process it, and I was very heavily pregnant so my hormones were all over the place.”

Her son with husband Christian Horner, born in January, was named Montague George Hector Horner – her mother’s idea.

Horner will release Angels In Chains on Friday, with all profits going to Michael’s charity of choice, Childline.