Paula Yates

I didn't particularly like her but could see that she was vulnerable and needy and almost embarrassing to watch at times. I can imagine her being taken advantage of.

The shock re Hughie Green being her father must have been horrendous.... not just that he wasn't likeable but that it turned her sense of self upside down. Poor Paula.

As said above, I wouldn't think Michael Hutchence was good for her.... or Bob Geldof come to that, but he went up in my opinion when he adopted Tiger Lily.

I had a soft spot for Paula, and for Bob. Watching it all unfold was just tragic, and I dont know how to say this, but she was one of those women who it was always going to end badly for. There are others today who remind me of her, particularly in the way they are treated. I think she was always very vulnerable.
I read that book too Fanny, it was hideous, that person wasnt a friend.

I didn't care for Paula in her heyday, but this documentary showed the real Paula who was actually quite vulnerable, and I found her story very sad

I didn't see the programme but from what I've read online it does seem to be 'bigging-up' her celebrity status - I don't believe the Diana story, she wasn't that relevant in comparison to Diana.

I wasn't a fan of her TV appearances but she was a witty and entertaining writer - in the aftermath of Hutchence's death when she had had a few young lovers, she advised against toy boys as they leave you with only an STD and an empty fridge!

Fifi was at my sons' school for a while, she was a couple of years younger, and I met PY and Geldoff a couple of times at school events - they were both quite amiable.

I liked Bob Geodoff and who s to know what when on behind closed doors I m sure she wasn’t easy to live with either
Michael Hutchins might have been the love of her life but was he good for her I feel doubtful
There were similarities with Princess Diane and they were both hounded by media which accounted for both their early deaths

Kylie Minogue said that like Byron, Michael Hutchence was mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

She was unique. As has been said by several people, she was fiercely intelligent and unapologetically herself. Given her upbringing, it's easy to see how she developed her flirty personality, but she was so much more than just that. Her story is a real tragedy.
And the 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' thing about Hutchence may well be true. But women throughout the centuries have always loved a bad boy...

Michael Hutchence suffered serious brain injuries in 1995.
It is said that he was never the same afterwards.
He kept it secret apart from telling Helena Christenson

news.sky.com/story/amp/inxs-star-michael-hutchence-and-the-secret-he-took-to-his-grave-11838007

Surely serious brain injuries would have involved hospitalisation

Hughie Green seemed a revolting creep to me also. I never understood his popularity and I refused to watch his TV shows
Being a child at that time perhaps we could see through his fake personna to the rotten man he really was. As many of us were not fooled (ditto Jimmy Saville )

Anniebach

Surely serious brain injuries would have involved hospitalisation

Really strange isn’t it.

It was revealed at the autopsy

pinkquartz I think that you are absolutely right there; I think that children have instincts and abilities that they lose as they grow up.
I also think (know ) that animals have a sixth sense for things like this

I watched both programmes about Paula and she did seem to have a mixed up life. Her mother was a very odd woman and certainly let Paula down.

The way the press behaved years ago was truly awful. They were outside her house all the time.

Yes very sad and her daughter Peaches too. I always liked her uniqueness and was drawn to her personality. Was sad watch.

Paula not only inherited the loathsome Hughie Green’s looks but also some of his mannerisms.

I don’t think she would have had the strength to reinvent herself and I doubt the media would have given her the chance.

We watched it and were horrified by the HIGNFY bit. It was just a disgusting way to treat a person and not funny at all.

It wouldn't have mattered if Hughie Green was the nicest person on the planet. That sort of deception is life changing. It changes all you thought you knew. It has robbed you of a relationship with your father which is a basic right and with it, all the memories you might have had. Paula would have been robbed of her sense of self. To have the one person you should have been able to trust, tell such a bare faced lie is bad enough but to when you are a public figure, how distressing must that have been especially when your life has been turned upside down with all the other things going on in your private life.

Whilst I didn't really like Paula Yates' public persona, I felt a lot of empathy for her when I watched the documentary.

Catterygirl

I think it was Lorraine who said Paula was super intelligent. Could never see it myself. Found her boring and a bit tarty. Sorry fans. After those harsh comments I should add that I am so sorry her life was lost for no good reason. She didn’t deserve to die in such a horrible way. Bob Geldof must be strong to have coped with it all.

Yes, as someone else has said, Bob Geldof took on all the children which was a strong thing to do.
I honestly didn't think Ms Yates was super intelligent either, nor particularly good at what she did. But still so sad what happened, dying on her daughter's birthday and leaving them both. Such an an awful start to their lives.
Then the story was repeated by Peaches.

A sad consequence of the child's right to know who their father is/was.

merlotgran

I remember Paula describing in an interview how, as an ardent groupie, she ‘literally threw herself’ at BG after ambushing him in Paris.

She knew how to get to a man through his ego.

Sad really.

I remember how she pursued Bob Geldof until he gave in. I wasn’t a fan, found her general behaviour a bit tarty and sex obsessed but she could also be entertaining. I remember also that she went through an Earth Mother phase, moving to the country, cooking, gardening, keeping chickens and writing a monthly column in a glossy magazine (Country Living?)
I believe her relationship with Hutchence was her downfall. Before him she was teetotal and never touched drugs. Watching the documentary was haunting and so sad. Taking heroin with her children in the house was a desperately irresponsible thing to do, but I don’t think she meant to kill herself.
Could never stand Geldof, but he did the decent thing with Tiger.

Taking heroin with her children in the house was a desperately irresponsible thing to do, but I don’t think she meant to kill herself.

This is the number one killer of drug addicts who have been through rehab. They take the same dose they were taking before they detoxed not realising their body cannot take it. The same thing happened to my brother after his seemingly successful rehab. It is tragic.

I loved her on the Big Breakfast. Bright and bubbly. Discovering a creep like Hughie Green was her natural father must have been devastating.
I was in Princess Mary's maternity hospital in Newcastle having my second daughter when Paula was brought in with some pre natal problems. She was in a private room next to our NHS ward. The excitement her arrival caused was astounding.
She ended up having Fifi Trixibel three days later in London.
Sometimes I think tragic people like her should be left to rest in peace.

Not sure it was Bob Geldof who adopted Tiger Lily. I know Hutchence's family were very against that but I think that as her closest relative was Paula's daughter Fifi, I think she might have been the one who legally became her guardian as she was over 18.

icanhandthemback

^Taking heroin with her children in the house was a desperately irresponsible thing to do, but I don’t think she meant to kill herself.^

This is the number one killer of drug addicts who have been through rehab. They take the same dose they were taking before they detoxed not realising their body cannot take it. The same thing happened to my brother after his seemingly successful rehab. It is tragic.

I think it happens with all addictions, including alcohol. It trains your brain to need/want that amount

Paperbackwriter

Not sure it was Bob Geldof who adopted Tiger Lily. I know Hutchence's family were very against that but I think that as her closest relative was Paula's daughter Fifi, I think she might have been the one who legally became her guardian as she was over 18.

She was initially fostered by Bon Geldof, then formally adopted by him in 2007, and her name changed to Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.

FannyCornforth

I was a huge fan of Paula’s and I’m a bit of an expert on her.
And yes, she was extremely intelligent and an autodidact.

I read her autobiography around 30 years ago, and her childhood was really shocking (it was written long before the Hutchens and Hughie Green stuff)

I also vividly remember reading two long interviews in The Sunday Times magazine in 1996.
One was with Paula and the other with Bob.
She spoke constantly about him, and her never mentioned her once.
I remember discussing it with my mom, we were both shocked by the dynamics of their relationship. She was clearly devoted to Bob, and it wasn’t reciprocated.

When Michael died and she found out that Jess Yates wasn’t her biological father at almost the exact same time, someone (maybe eve her) said that all at once she’d lost her future and her past.
I really related to that at the time.

After her death, one of her so called friends wrote a book about Paula, Bob and Michael called ‘Everything you know is false’ and I think it’s the most shocking, sordid book I have ever read.

The whole story of Paula is just so deeply sad.
Rest in peace dear Paula x

On a lighter note, one of my favourite Paula facts is that she had a cat called Rowdy (one for the Bonanza fans )

Most magazine interviews are constructed from the answers to questions, but presented as spontaneous utterances.
Women are often interviewed and presented as adjuncts of their romantic partners, primarily concerned with the man in their life. Men are asked about their work, their achievements, the money they earn, their thoughts on current affairs.
This still happens now and certainly was the norm in the 20th century.
Murdoch media fosters these tropes and did much to establish them.