George Michael's sister found dead on the 3rd anniversary of his death
Death of Melanie Panayiotou on Christmas Day not being treated as suspicious, says London Metropolitan Police.
FILE PHOTO: George Michael appears in this handout picture in New York, U.S., 1996. Andrew Macpherson/Handout via REUTERS
Exactly three years after pop singer George Michael’s passing on Christmas Day 2016, his sister Melanie Panayiotou has been found dead in her London home on Wednesday (Dec 25), according to Entertainment Weekly.
“We can confirm that very tragically Melanie has passed away suddenly. We would simply ask that the family’s privacy be respected at this very sad time,” her family said in a statement issued on Friday (Dec 27) through their lawyer, John Reid.
“There will be no further comment,” they added.
The London Metropolitan Police also confirmed the death in a statement, which read: "Police were called by London Ambulance Service at approximately 1935hrs on Wednesday, 25 December to reports of the sudden death of a woman, aged in her 50s.
According to the Evening Standard, Melanie, 55, was found at her home by older sister Yioda Panayiotou.
Michael, who rose to fame in the 1980s as part of duo Wham!, was 53 years old when he died on Christmas Day in 2016.
In March 2017, the coroner revealed that the singer died of natural causes and suffered a dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.
Just days before her death, Melanie and her sister Yioda, as well as the singer’s father Jack and longtime manager David Austin, thanked fans for their support as the three-year anniversary of the singer’s death approached.
In a statement shared to his official website on Monday, the family said they’d “come to fully appreciate, although we already knew really, quite how much love there is out there in the world, for both Yog (Michael’s nickname) and his beautiful music” in the years since his death in 2016.
