Boy George has predicted clean-cut teen heartthrobs One Direction will be brought down by a huge scandal.

The former Culture Club frontman battled a crippling heroin addiction at the height of his fame in the 1980s, and he fears the Live While We're Young singers will be hit with some lurid headlines when their popularity starts to fade.

He tells Q magazine, "What usually happens with pop stars is when they first get famous they're quite well behaved and then after they have their moment they start falling apart. I'm sure we have One Direction stories coming. It's so predictable."