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Paula Yates

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Paula Yates
Born
Paula Elizabeth Yates

(1959-04-24)24 April 1959
Colwyn Bay, Conwy, Wales
Died17 September 2000(2000-09-17) (aged 41)
Notting Hill, London, England
Cause of deathHeroin overdose
Occupation(s)Television presenter, writer
Years active1979–2000
Known forThe Tube
The Big Breakfast
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1986; div. 1996)​
PartnerMichael Hutchence (1995–1997; his death)
Children4, including Peaches and Pixie Geldof
Parents

Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1959 – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer. Yates is best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast. She was the girlfriend of musician Bob Geldof from 1976 to 1986 and was married to him from 1986 to 1996. She was also in a relationship with musician Michael Hutchence from the mid-1990s until Hutchence's death in 1997. Yates died of a heroin overdose in 2000.

Early life

Born on 24 April 1959[1] in Colwyn Bay, Wales, to English parents, Yates was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl actress and writer of erotic novels from Blackpool,[2] who used the stage name Heller Toren. Up until 1997, Yates believed her biological father to be Jess Yates, who hosted the ITV religious programme Stars on Sunday. Jess Yates and Elaine Smith were married from 1958 to 1975. Jess Yates was 19 years older than his wife, and their marriage was unconventional.

Yates described her childhood as lonely and isolated; her mother, she claimed, was absent for much of her upbringing.[3] She attended a village primary school, Penrhos College, and Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time,[4] before moving to a house near Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother despite having a closer relationship with her father, and also had periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.

Career

In 1979, Yates began her career as a music journalist with a column called "Natural Blonde" in the Record Mirror, shortly after posing for Penthouse magazine. She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube. She also appeared alongside her friend Jennifer Saunders in 1987 for a spoof 'mockumentary' on Bananarama.

In 1982, she released a version of the Nancy Sinatra hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".[5] After the birth of her daughters, Yates wrote two books on motherhood.

Yates continued with her rock journalism, in addition to being presenter of the cutting-edge music show The Tube. She became most notorious for her "on the bed" interviews on the show The Big Breakfast, produced by her husband, Bob Geldof.[6][3]

Personal life

Yates met Geldof in the early days of The Boomtown Rats. They began a romantic relationship in 1976 when she flew to Paris to surprise him while the band was playing there. Their first daughter, Fifi Trixibelle, was born on 31 March 1983,[7] named Fifi after Geldof's aunt Fifi, and Trixibelle because Yates wanted a belle in the family.[8] After ten years together, Yates and Geldof married on 31 August 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran acting as best man. The couple then had two more daughters, Peaches[9] on 13 March 1989, and Pixie on 17 September 1990.

In 1985, Yates met INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence while interviewing him for Channel 4's rock magazine programme The Tube. During this appearance on The Tube, Yates was reportedly asked to leave Hutchence alone by the road manager of INXS when she walked up to him and said, "I'm going to have that boy [Hutchence]". Yates was unmoved by the manager's request and began to show up at INXS gigs everywhere for the next few years, even taking her young daughter Fifi along.[10] Yates maintained irregular contact with Hutchence during the intervening nine years and their affair had been under way for some months before their Big Breakfast interview in October 1994.[11] In February 1995, Yates left Geldof, and later that year became pregnant with Hutchence's child.

Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996. On 22 July 1996, Yates gave birth to a daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as Tiger).[12]

On 22 November 1997, Michael Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney. The official verdict into his death said that he committed suicide by hanging.[13] Yates wrote in her police statement that Hutchence was "frightened and couldn't stand a minute more without his baby". During their phone conversations on the morning of his suicide, he had said, "I don't know how I'll live without Tiger". Yates also wrote that Geldof had threatened them repeatedly with, "Don't forget, I am above the law".[14] Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide and insisting that it was a case of auto-erotic asphyxiation.[15] She eventually sought psychiatric treatment.

In December 1997, a few weeks after Hutchence's death and while Yates was fighting for custody of Tiger, Yates suffered another blow when a DNA test result confirmed tabloid media reports that Jess Yates, who had died in April 1993, was not Yates's biological father. A paternity test proved that the talent show host Hughie Green, who had died six months before Hutchence, was her biological father.[16]

In June 1998, Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters after Yates attempted suicide.[17] She met Kingsley O'Keke during her stay in treatment, but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper.[18][19]

Death

On 17 September 2000, on Pixie's 10th birthday, Yates died at her home in Notting Hill at the age of 41 of a heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.[20][21] Yates was discovered in the presence of her then-four-year-old daughter, Tiger Lily.[22] A friend disclosed during the inquest that Yates had not taken illegal drugs for nearly two years, and the coroner, Paul Knapman, concluded that although the amount Yates had taken would not have killed an addict, as "an unsophisticated taker of heroin" Yates had no tolerance to the drug.[23]

Soon after Yates's death, Geldof assumed foster custody of Tiger Lily so that she could be brought up with her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie. Her aunt, Tina Hutchence, the sister of Michael Hutchence, was denied permission by the judge to apply for Tiger Lily to live with her in California.[24] In 2007, Geldof adopted Tiger Lily and changed her surname to Geldof;[25] as of 2019, Tiger's legal name was Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.[26]

On 7 April 2014, Yates's second-oldest daughter, Peaches, also died of a heroin overdose, aged 25. One day before her death, she uploaded a picture to her Instagram of herself as a young girl and her mother under the caption "Me and my Mum."[27]

Books

Paula Yates was the author of several books, including:

  • Rock Stars in Their Underpants (1980)
  • A Tail of Two Kitties (1983)
  • Blondes (1983)
  • Sex with Paula Yates (1986)
  • The Fun Starts Here (1990)
  • The Fun Don't Stop: Loads of Rip-roaring Activities for You and Your Toddler (1991)
  • And the Fun Goes On: A Practical Guide to Playing and Learning with Your Pre-school Child (1991)
  • Village People (1993)

References

  1. ^ "Paula Yates" Archived 27 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. The Telegraph (18 September 2000). Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  2. ^ Lane, Harriet (6 August 2000). "Mommie dearest". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  3. ^ a b Bedell, Geraldine (28 February 1993). "Baby, Baby, Baby: Paula Yates, the rock chick who married Bob Geldof and interviews people in bed, has set herself up as an expert on motherhood. Is she serious, or is she just flirting with it, the way she does with everything else?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Historic Deganwy Castle hotel closes its doors". BBC News. 11 January 2010. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  5. ^ "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". Secondhandsongs.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  6. ^ Hodgson, Michael (6 November 2000). "The Paula I knew". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  7. ^ Fifi Trixibelle Geldof Archived 24 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine IMDb listing
  8. ^ Geldof, Bob (March 1987). Is That It? (First ed.). London: Penguin. pp. 360 pages. ISBN 978-1-55584-115-7.
  9. ^ "Peaches Geldof calls for end to silly names". Contactmusic.com. 19 January 2006. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  10. ^ Bozza 2005, p. 228.
  11. ^ "The passions of Paula Yates". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  12. ^ "The saving of Geldof's soul". The Independent. Ireland. 4 March 2013. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  13. ^ "Michael Hutchence planned to leave Paula Yates before death, Kirk Pengilly says". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 February 2014. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  14. ^ "Michael Hutchence – Official Website – Library – Section 1". Michaelhutchenceinfo.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  15. ^ Evans, Martin (31 October 2000). "Suicide threats of Paula Yates 'drove Hutchence to kill himself'". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  16. ^ "Drama – Hughie Green, Most Sincerely". BBC. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  17. ^ "Yates' turbulent loves". BBC News. 17 September 2000. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  18. ^ "Yates loses custody battle". BBC News. 28 October 1998. Archived from the original on 25 February 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  19. ^ "Geldof blames decision of family courts for daughters' pain". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  20. ^ Branigan, Tania (9 November 2000). "TV star killed by heroin 'binge'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  21. ^ "Heroin overdose killed Yates". BBC News. 8 November 2000. Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  22. ^ "Peaches Geldof died next to her baby". 11 April 2014. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  23. ^ Branigan, Tania (9 November 2000). "TV star killed by heroin 'binge'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  24. ^ "Tiger Lily to live with Sir Bob". BBC News. 19 December 2000. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  25. ^ "Geldof to rename daughter of Hutchence". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 November 2007.
  26. ^ "Michael Hutchence's daughter Tiger Lily, 22, has been 'ignored' by the rock star's estate – as she is discovered 'living in a London squat after receiving a $900 inheritance'". MSN. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  27. ^ "Peaches Geldof: Writer and TV presenter dies aged 25". BBC News. 7 April 2014. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.

Works cited

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