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In 2010, Jo Maidment appeared on ITV’s This Morning program explaining that she was desperate to have IVF after she struggled to conceive naturally. Sadly, Jo had been turned down by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) on the grounds her partner had already had a child.
But following her appearance on TV, Jo received a phone call revealing an unnamed “businessman” wished to help her.
Jo would later discover that the “businessman” who paid over $AUD25,000 for her to have IVF was, in fact, popstar George Michael who passed away at the age of 53.
On Tuesday, spurred by the passing of the legendary musician and with the permission of George’s family, Jo headed back to This Morning program to reveal the British hitmakers incredible act of generosity.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” she said. “And it took me a good few days to respond because that wasn’t what I came on the show for. I wanted to help other people in my position. But then we agreed to it, because [Michael’s PA, named Michelle] said it was what this particular man wanted.”
“He wanted us to have a baby. That’s all we knew.”
Sadly, Jo’s first round of treatment resulted in a miscarriage but the remaining frozen eggs from that IVF cycle enabled her to be implanted once again, and in 2012 she gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Betsy.
Jo explained that it was only after the couple’s “miracle baby” entered the world that George decided to contact the family and reveal his identity.
“It was a couple of days after we came home with Betsy and we had loads of cards and flowers, and there was a massive bouquet of flowers that came and I read the card that said, ‘Congratulations to you both. Lots of love to Betsy. Love from Michelle and George Michael (AKA Anonymous) xx’. Me and my husband read it hundreds of times to believe it.”
The music icon will always be remembered for his enormous generosity.
“Betsy is now four-and-a-half. I was really upset when I found out [Michael had died] because I can never thank him personally and he never got to meet her. Betsy will know when she’s old enough.”
In a beautiful tribute to George’s life, Jo told the talk show’s presenters that she would be donating her appearance fee to the charity Childline – in honour of George.
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In the lead up to his death, the songwriter became somewhat of a recluse and rarely left his house.
She said, “It’s just my way of saying thank you to George. I never got to thank him personally.”
At the time of passing, the music icon is said to have left behind a £100million estate (worth approx $AUD170, 643, 200).
Much of the singers estate will be divvied out to charitable organisations, including Childline, the Terrence Higgins Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support.
