Anselmo Feleppa

Anselmo Feleppa (August 21, 1956 - March 26, 1993) was a Brazilian fashion designer who was best known internationally for his romantic relationship with musician George Michael.

At the 1991 “Rock In Rio” concert Feleppa met Michael, though the couple kept their romance a secret due to the singer's closeted status. Eighteen months later, Feleppa was diagnosed with AIDS. In 1993, Feleppa returned to his native Brazil where, on March 26, he died of an AIDS-related cerebral hemorrhage.

Only days after Feleppa's death did Michael make the decision to come out to his parents about his sexuality and his relationship with Feleppa. Feleppa's love for him and the grief from his death inspired Michael to write the haunting ballad "Jesus to a Child" from his 1996 album Older. The subject matter of the song remained ambiguous until Michael's public arrest for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public restroom in a park in Beverly Hills, California in Los Angeles on April 7, 1998, which subsequently outed him. Whenever Michael performs the song in concert, he dedicates it to the memory of Anselmo Feleppa.

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