U2 frontman Bono has explained the heartbreaking reason behind his decision to end his friendship with the late Michael Hutchence.

The singer recalls how he and his wife Ali Hewson were very close to the INXS singer and his partner Paula Yates during the early 90s, but their friendship became ‘strained’ as the late couple struggled with their addiction issues.

Bono writes how he and his wife ‘grew uncomfortable’ when meeting up with Michael and Paula after the couple “spiralled down the vortex of a recreational drug use that had become hard work for everyone, especially their family, especially the younger ones.”

The With or Without You singer, 62, reveals in his new book, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, how he and Ali declined Michael and Paula’s request for the couple to be their daughter’s godparents – a refusal that ultimately ended the four stars’ friendship.

Paula – who died in September 2000 – and Michael welcomed daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof into the world in 1996. Michael was found dead at the age of 37 in a hotel room in Sydney the following year, with an official verdict into the star’s death ruling he died by suicide on 22 November 1997.

As their behaviour changed, our friendship became strained and we grew uncomfortable during their visits,” Bono writes in his new book.

Michael co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 75 million records worldwide, but the Australian musician’s romances and personal life often attracted just as much attention as his career achievements before his death