Boy George has reflected on his experience of prison life, admitting he thought that being behind bars would have “finished him off”.

The Culture Club frontman was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2009 after he was found guilty of imprisoning a male escort.

While the singer served just four months in prison after securing an early release for good behaviour, he said the experience was “life changing”.

“I always maintained that jail would finish me off, but it didn’t. You somehow find the strength,” he told Reader’s Digest.

George served the rest of his sentence under curfew and was required to wear an ankle monitor for the remainder of it.

He had a previous brush with the law in 2006 after police found cocaine in his home in New York and he was sentenced to community service.

“I have always had a mistake in me, but that’s OK. As far as the troubles I had back in 2006 and 2009, of course they are things I’m not proud of,” he added.

“Yet at the same time they remind me that I hadn’t shaken off that nihilistic attitude of the past, nor would I ever want to. And every mistake is a positive life lesson … It really is.”

He added: “Getting clean from the haze of drugs transformed my life in ways I didn’t expect.”