Paula Yates

FannyCornforth

I’d love to know who wrote that bile.

in 1997

I don't know why people have to be so cruel about other people.

Peaches had also been a user who hadn't used for a while so I suspect it was an accident.

Heroin overdose, although the coroner ruled that there was no evidence it was deliberate.

How did Peaches die?

How horrible to write about people this way and you are right FannyCornforth, it is bile. My mother wasn't an angel when she was younger and I would still hate it if someone wrote about her in this way. What is more she has felt the shame of being a cuckoo in the family nest which has had an impact on her behaviour. Equally, her deeds had an impact on mine and, although I don't excuse myself for it, I really didn't know any better until I met someone who took the time to help me.

I’d love to know who wrote that bile.

I have just stumbled upon this article about Paula’s mother.
It’s from The Independent in 1997.
And The Daily Mail is supposed to be vicious! I’m honestly gobsmacked 🙀

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/why-are-they-famous-heller-torren-1289894.html

merlotgran

^Men quite often move to the other side of the world but their ability as a father isn't called into question^

How do you know?

I have been able to read the threads on Social Media, articles in the press, etc. There are many celebrities whose children live on the other side of the world, how many have you seen criticised in the press. There is a certain vitriol reserved for Mum's who for various reasons don't get custody which is not expressed for men. There are a couple of women in our family alone who have left their children with their husbands and people always talk about them as if there is something wrong with them.
I can't imagine being in the position where I would willingly leave my children living in another place than with me but if I did, I would hope for understanding from other women.

Men quite often move to the other side of the world but their ability as a father isn't called into question

How do you know?

Sophiasnana

Catterygirl, I feel the same. Not really sure why she became so famous. As for her being a wonderful mum? She admittedly chose Michael over her three girls, and left them to go to Australia to live with him.

Men quite often move to the other side of the world but their ability as a father isn't called into question. I suspect that living over the other side of the world for Paula wasn't quite as impossible for her as it would have been for us. She and Michael had enough money for her to fly back weekly if she wanted to and if she was allowed to see her kids.

Catterygirl, I feel the same. Not really sure why she became so famous. As for her being a wonderful mum? She admittedly chose Michael over her three girls, and left them to go to Australia to live with him.

Thank you so much for sharing that GDH
I’ve read some of it, it’s quite a long read (a good thing!) so I’ll come back to it later.

What Catherine Mayer says chimes with what i believed about Paula being a people pleaser; a self styled ‘domestic goddess’; and how she wanted to create a perfect home and family for Bob who had an abusive and very unhappy childhood.

Interesting article about Paula from a close friend.

twitter.com/sunapology/status/1635638937942212610?s=61&t=qph6ruaz5B5GPjDn7jnZBw

I loved The Tube and The Big Breakfast, and always enjoyed watching Paula on-screen. Not all the “on the bed” interviews worked but when they did, they were wonderful to watch. She was funny, irreverent, sexy and totally over the top flirty. And a bloody good writer, I wonder if she would have totally given up on TV as she aged and concentrated solely on writing.
I enjoyed the two part doc, but other than Brenda, don’t feel Robbie W., etc. really contributed that much to it. I’d forgotten just how horrible IH (and the others) were to her on HIGNFY. Same with the press, lots of truly horrific headlines. Not much has changed really when it comes to the tabloids disparaging women.

One of the things that really struck a chord with me was that BG gave an interview about the court proceedings and the bias against the man. He spoke about being advised not to say he loved his children as that would be frowned upon by the Judge and other things that would be considered acceptable if he was a woman even if she was a drug user when the kids were around.
As for both parties having affairs, I think the fact that Paula felt that she didn't need anybody but MH after they got together probably showed that although she was in love with BG, it wasn't that deep, connection that you get when it is Mr or Mrs Right. I can empathise with that. I would have protested fiercely that I loved my first 2 husbands but it was only when I met my 3rd husband, I realised that what I thought was love, it really wasn't. I think a lot of young people can relate to that.

I think she was a vulnerable, flawed woman...as so many are when it comes to the men in their lives, a personality perhaps looking for what they want in a man as opposed to what they need.
The overriding thought for me is how truly appalling the tabloid media behaved and still do... although maybe it's something we as a society need to examine, would they be the same without the appetite for gossip?!

I think Bob wasnt an angel in terms of affairs either was he?

I think that I may have got my timings wrong.
This way the magazine, and it was 1992, not 1996.
My mom and I must have been discussing the interviews in 1996 as that’s when they were both in the news due to splitting up.
(I vividly remember my conversations with my mom as it was just before she died)

Sorry for any confusion

merlotgran

That’s a bit ‘knee jerk’, Fanny

Yes, I suppose it was.
However , I do know quite a bit about print media, and did feel patronised.
It’s not as if Seakay had actually read the interviews to which I referred.

Anniebach

If she was clearly devoted to Geldof in 1996 why the affairs with other men during the marriage ? Had she not left him in 1995 ?

People can love (or be devoted to) someone and still have 'affairs' with other people. It's not that uncommon.

If she was clearly devoted to Geldof in 1996 why the affairs with other men during the marriage ? Had she not left him in 1995 ?

FannyCornforth

Seakay thanks for the media studies lecture. (I’m sorry for being sarcastic, but I really don’t like being patronised)
I’m sure that both my mother and I applied our critical thinking skills, especially as I was studying for my MA in English Literature at the time.

I don't think that was patronising, just informative and not disagreeing with you

That’s a bit ‘knee jerk’, Fanny

Seakay thanks for the media studies lecture. (I’m sorry for being sarcastic, but I really don’t like being patronised)
I’m sure that both my mother and I applied our critical thinking skills, especially as I was studying for my MA in English Literature at the time.

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.

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.