Peaches Geldof and the Geldof family #3

[Jelly Bean]

I vaguely remember Peaches programme about Islam
It was so bad. She wafted around Marrakech saying things like 'this is all so wierd for a girl from London. Like, they have no fashion'.

ETA For a while she seemed to model herself on Paris Hilton, in that disdainful 'I'm so rich and have such a clique and love trivial things' way.

 

[cee-bee]

I see the resemblance between pixie and tiger lily but idk I do think she looks like Bob also. I like pixie though She’s very private she said the same group of friends for years that’s very telling.

peaches definitely seemed to be a Paul mini me.

fifi, being the eldest, seemed to have bourne the brunt of being exposed to a lot of Paulas erratic behaviour and distanced herself when she was still pretty young.

Peaches always seemed to idolise her mum and took after her in looks, temperament and how she played out her life in many ways (chasing after men, egocentric, drug addiction, manipulative)

pixie definitely seems like a very different character. Their approach to motherhood and their private life is vastly different - Peaches was happy to do photo shoots and court Public attention for her wedding, with her children and used to write a column detailing private things from her health to family holidays.

by contrast, pixie seems a lot more grounded. Other than being involved with a man in his 30s when she was a teen, her love life at face value seems a lot more stable than Peaches. And she’s much, much more private. She’s never publicly confirmed when her daughter was born or her name. She seems to keep a small, close circle and has been with her husband a long time now.

I always thought it was pretty telling that, despite being brought up by Bob in the U.K., tiger ultimately chose to move to Australia and live her life there. She doesn’t seem to have any of the propensity to drama that Bob-Paula-Peaches had going on.

 

[Donnavanessa]

I used to really like Paula back in the day. She was so full of personality and fiercely intelligent. Her sad decline and death was such a tragedy for all concerned and, of course, the ripples spreading out years later to the loss of Peaches in eerily similar circumstances.

 

[despair]

Imo Tom did/does drugs as well. Might be shallow, but even just from his looks and the image he creates. Also, I think, just like someone else said, they wanted their children early on, for the ultimate boho-lifestyle.

I think, Tom knew about her drug addiction, that she was consuming regularly. Is this a reason though, for not letting her alone with a baby? She consumed many years without an overdose. I don’t find this that weird.

She had documented overdoses and had been in rehab. He was very open at the inquest about how things had been in the days before her death. She had back to back babies not long before and was heavily montitored.
Tom knew of her addiction obviously but to suggest from his looks and image he was a heavy user is really a bit much on anyone. Lots of people dabble and are in social circles where drugs are used, some people still never touch them despite looks, some dabble and move on with life and some get caught. I’ve never come across anything suggesting Tom had a drug problem, even less so a heroin user. To be honest if he was, their home life would not have been how it was as a huge amount was online and you simply couldn’t hold it together that much.
IMHO she had a problem but settled with Tom and had a baby (most likely to ‘save’ her) this was enough for a while and she coped with prescription meds, she had the second baby and then once they moved, she relapsed a couple of times. Tom found out and she went to rehab promising she would stop. We all know the ending. Given he made her flush away a large amount of gear when he found it, very upset, I cannot see a drug user doing that.

 

[plinky2]

I always take the Bob as a dad bashing with a pinch of salt because a lot of it came from Paula trying to justify why she left him, and from people in the industry who he worked with who were not his children. You can be a grumpy business man in showbiz but also a loving dad.

Paula was clearly hard to love, she was very exciting and fun but also very draining and chaotic. A lot of her complaints about him were that he was boring and stable. Not wanting his kids to be taken out of education to go on tour of Australia was never that unreasonable seen as he also must have been aware of their drug use.

I thought she was fun on TV, I always watched Big Breakfast but she struck me as needy, high maintenance and selfish. Michael was such a people pleaser, I don’t think he was her victim though they enabled each other.

I recall seeing him on TV after he got with her and he was like a shell of his former self. The Chris Evans TFI interview in 1997 he didn’t look great.

 

[granite grandma]

I would bet money pixie is biologically, Michael’s daughter.

as for Paula lording that over Bob, there are several reasons why she might not/could not have done that.

legally, a man has no legal claim or responsibility to a child unless he is married to the mother (yep, really) or has been specifically named on the birth certificate. In legal terms, it’s called “parental responsibility”. It can be applied for at a later date of course, but that gets complicated and I’m not sure how accessible dna tests were in the 90s.


1. So Legally, Bob is Pixies father. And it goes without saying he has raised her.
2. Assuming Paula had an affair with someone else, they aren’t named on the birth certificate so wouldn’t have been under any legal responsibility to provide for Pixie.
3. it’s possible Paula wasn’t sure herself.

Hurchence’s manager spoke about how Paula stalked him and that she’d hooked up with him long before the Big Breakfast interview. They first met in 1985 apparently.

if we look back on the time that Pixie was conceived, it would’ve been December 1989. At that time, Band Aid II was being recorded in London and Kylie Minogue participated.

Kylie had just finished her first global concert tour, which took place in October of that same year. Infamously, she met Michael Hutchence during this tour and dumped Jason Donovan pretty much straight away.

so it’s very plausible that MH could have accompanied Kylie to London (they were already making public appearances together by then, and attended a premier for The Delinquents in December 1989) in their early days of being a couple, had a hook up with Paula but ultimately chose to stay with Kylie. He certainly had form for letting relationships overlap!

Michael Hutchence juggled dating Kylie Minogue and Helena Christensen

Michael Hutchence had women across the world swooning over his good looks and charm.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Helena was supposedly the love of his life, but because of his brain injury he had started to become depressed and was prescribed Prozac for the first time in 1995 - I’ve always thought that his relationship with Helena started breaking down as a result of his injury and mental state, and he gave in to long-standing side chick Paula whilst vulnerable and probably pretty heartbroken.

for me, it’s almost certain that Hutchence fathered Pixie. The resemblance is uncanny and she’s almost identical facially (albeit her colouring is slightly different) to Tigerlily - and neither of them resemble Paula. I’m surprised not more is made of it but then I guess it’s very personal. I always assumed that’s why Paula spoke more warmly about Pixie, than she ever did about Fifi or Peaches.

it’s another sad, ironic twist in this family’s story if you ask me.

Peaches died of an overdose, like her mother.

Pixie is likely to be aware of rumours that her biological father isn’t the man who raised her - something that also devastated Paula.



it’s the name peaches used on FB

I agree with this post 100%
---

The press are arseholes. 14 months ago, my sister was killed in a head on with a drunk driver. Just before Christmas. I identified her the day after and that evening, I was told by our police liaison officer I had to put out a “family tribute” asap as the local gazette had been in contact. They said we had 24hours to do it before they did it as they knew her name.

There should be laws against this, the families of the manchester arena bombing victims were hounded by the press, the things that came out in the inquiry were dreadful. I’m so sorry for your loss and that you had to go through that with the press. I don’t know how these ppl sleep at night. Ghouls

 

[Serene Serena]

I think sex positive feminism has been quite negative for many women, it's been co-opted by abusive men who use vulnerable women for sex. The only reason a group of men would want a blow job from the same woman one after the other is to use and objectify her. I'm disgusted by this too, not one of those men thought 'is this ok'. I know she was a grown woman but they were grown men too and should have seen her as a person, not a receptacle for them to spunk into

I agree. What the fuck were they thinking? If it's true, I can't believe not one man thought it was okay behaviour. I hope it's something she said she'd done and not actually done. It's put me off any of Wet Wet Wet's music, that's for sure.

She was definitely damaged due to childhood sexual abuse, and these days, there would have been intervention and therapy. Back then though, it was shoved under the carpet, and the phrase 'washing your dirty linen in public' was bandied about a lot when people spoke openly about traumatic events like abuse.

 

[IdeletedbutI'mbackagain]

Bob cheated on Paula too though didn’t he? He just never left the marriage, unlike Paula.
Also, I don’t think it was just for Paula’s ego that she didn’t want everyone to think Michael died by suicide, she didn’t want Tiger Lily to think her dad didn’t love her enough to carry on living.

By making out his death was a ritualistic sex experiment gone wrong? I think that was extremely disrespectful of Paula and had nothing to do with her caring for her daughters feelings.

 

[EnjoyingTheShow]

I amended the new thread title to include the whole family.

Anyway - carry on!

Thank you Jelly Bean! Great topic, fascinating family.

Anyone remember Belinda Brewin, Paula’s Mouthpiece/Bestie/Gangster’s Moll. Was the one holding her at Michael’s funeral. Her daughter was on First Dates talking a bit about the mother and the crazy time period with Paula/Michael death etc.

Unfortunately I can’t remember the daughter’s name or find the clip on YouTube lol. This was a few years back.

edit: Paula’s autobiography was a great read btw. Her life really was like a film script.

 

[FrannyGallops]

I remember Peaches becoming famous quite young and found her a bit irritating. I then remember when she had her kids and how popular she became with everyone thinking she was wonderful, so when she died I was surprised that nobody thought it might be to do with drugs as it was actually the first thought that came to my mind and I was proved correct

I could understand why people didn’t like Paula. She was like Marmite, but I do think she was good at what she did whether you liked her style of interviewing or not. Peaches, on the other hand, always came across like an entitled brat and I really didn’t get the love for her but maybe I was too old by then. All the stuff she did like the interview with Fearne Cotton just reinforced my view of her. Didn’t she also have her own show at one point? Again, she didn’t come across well to me. I never bought the earth mother stuff either.

 

[Boom Boom!!]

Also, Bono’s daughter who acts (Eve) is apparently one of the nastiest, bitchiest pieces of work you never want to be around. A real REAL mean girl (if you’ve ever been bullied by these types, you know how soul destroying this is - drive you to suicidal thoughts sort of situation) This is direct from a friend of a crew member friend who worked with her.

Yes I heard that too from a friend who was an extra on set!! An absolute wagon she is!! To be honest when I heard what he said I thought “ what an absolute cunt”!!

 

[yayoi]

You can get brain injuries from drug use.

You can but that isn't how MH got his

 

[Jane Tee]

[ course.
[/QUOTE]

Wasn’t that after Michael died though?

It was more that he sold the story. I think others did too. Iirc. No privacy.
---

How as a mother/working woman did she have time for all these affairs?

Because she wasnt an ordinary working mother. She had a nanny, house help, drivers etc.
Plenty of time for leisure activites

 

[Suzesnooze]

I could understand why people didn’t like Paula. She was like Marmite, but I do think she was good at what she did whether you liked her style of interviewing or not. Peaches, on the other hand, always came across like an entitled brat and I really didn’t get the love for her but maybe I was too old by then. All the stuff she did like the interview with Fearne Cotton just reinforced my view of her. Didn’t she also have her own show at one point? Again, she didn’t come across well to me. I never bought the earth mother stuff either.

I agree. I found it hard to like her and felt she only got the jobs she did because of who her parents were. Another nepo kid!

 

[Scarlett O' Hara]

I think Courtney is suggesting that the media hounded Paula to death, as they did with Amy and tried to do with Courtney. Obviously it’s more complex than that but I’m sure the press intrusion was a factor.

I think Paula and Amy hastened their own deaths by their lifestyle choices.

No judgement from me, I wasn't in their shoes, but I can't be a hypocrite and totally blame the media.

Loved Amy's music and still feel so sad that she died so young. Paula leaving four little kids motherless was tragic too.

 

[PeteM]

I can't stand people who blame how they are on their childhood but don't even try to modify their harmful behaviour. It's not an excuse - you don't have to expose your children to the same trauma.

 

[MrsBsDayOff]

I’m afraid the public persona of Paula Yates was very different to the real Paula Yates . She had intermittently used drugs since the age of 14 but was never an addict .

MH certainly didn’t introduce her to narcotics , but their usage together was phenomenal in how it escalated & ultimately ended them both.

Yep. The public persona was what she wanted people to believe. The private persona was, I believe, very different. She was a bad mother.

 

[IdeletedbutI'mbackagain]

That is some great goss, thank you.

Bet Paula wishes she’d kept that nan, now, seeing as it was Anita the later, infamous nanny who dobbed them in regarding the heroin in the smarties tube under the bed.

Fucking idiot's they are so lucky they didn't kill their child. How exactly is Paula thought of as intelligent?? On what grounds? Cause that's just dumb as fuck.

 

[cee-bee]

I knew a 16 year old girl when I was a teenager whose Dad had taken photos for her to try and get on page 3

One of my friends (female) comes from a family of huge football supporters and has a few brothers. She happens to be very very beautiful.

I’ll never forget in our late teens/early 20s.. we were discussing footballers and wags, and how badly some footballers treated their wives and how unequal the relationships were in terms of wealth etc etc

I remember her saying something to the effect of… her family (dad and brothers) would still be delighted if she hooked up with a footballer.

It didn’t strike me as creepy, more like… a reflection perhaps on how her family saw her attractiveness as a commodity to be traded in for the ultimate achievement (a footballer). They didn’t praise her intelligence or her ambitions or encouraged her hobbies. It all came down to.. you are an attractive girl and we’d offer you up to our football heroes if we could.

Being attractive is a commodity, but it’s especially so if you are female. I reckon the type of behaviour you describe is more common than we’d like to admit.

Hell, Paula based her career on commodify her attractiveness and being titillating

 

[SkippyDoo]

I've just remembered an odd thing I heard about Paula's alcohol choices. Her favourite thing was lots of those mini bottles of spirits like you get in hotel mini bars. Maybe she thought in some way that didn't count?

Yes, as I recall, a local shopkeeper said after her death that she would visit his shop several times a day to buy miniatures.

Just a random person with a drinking problem here, but one explanation is a person needing their fix but trying to keep it under control by buying the smallest measures available so they don’t overdo it. However, that’s negated by doing so several times in one day which can happen when the urge to drink descends again after you’ve told yourself you will stop at one or two. I will buy a bigger bottle, tip half out, but then buy the same size bottle again…