George Michael secretly paid for IVF to help mum have 'miracle ...
George Michael's kind gesture was remembered on This Morning. (Reuters)
This Morning viewers were moved as a mum revealed that she had her daughter thanks to IVF treatment secretly paid for the late George Michael.
Jo Maidment went on the ITV show on Friday (23 June) as it aired a special tribute episode ahead of what would have been the star’s 60th birthday on Sunday (25 June).
She told how she had her “miracle” daughter Betsey after Michael stepped in when he saw on the show in 2010 talking about the lack of funding for IVF.
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“Two days later somebody rang me and said there’s a businessman that would like to pay for your IVF,” she shared.
George Michael died in 2016. (PA Images/Alamy)
Maidment had no idea who was behind the generous offer as the donor had asked to remain anonymous.
“I just didn’t believe it at first,” she said.
“I thought this was just a joke and I was like, ‘Why me and my husband?’
“We are just normal people that were trying to highlight something, and I just couldn’t believe it. It took us a few days to accept because we didn’t come on the show for that, but we thought about it, and it was possibly our only shot of having a baby… so we did (accept).”
The family only discovered that the anonymous businessman was the Wham! star a few days after having Betsey, who is now 11.
“We got home to lots of flowers, one was with a card and that’s when it was revealed who it was… but we kept that secret and it was so difficult to not tell others!” Maidment said.
Jo Maidment was on This Morning with her daughter (ITV)
The singer died on Christmas Day in 2016 aged 53, and a coroner later determined his death was due to natural causes.
Maidment said when she heard the sad news she reached out to his PA and asked if she could share what he had done for them.
Fans were moved by what the star had done, saying he was a “lovely man”.
“This is such a beautiful story,” one tweeted.
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"George Michael what a guy… lovely story,” said another.
Someone else chimed in: “He was taken way too soon.”
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.
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