I liked the outrageousness of Paula Yates. When she was on form she was a good interviewer who made TV look fun.
Her personal life with Bob, seemed relatively stable, until she blew everything up by getting with Michael Hutchence!
She definitely played the role of the rebellious daughter! I remember her supposed dad doing the Sunday TV religious shows! one of those sweater wearing, smiley types, As conventional as anything. Paula was a massive contrast to this! A dose of fresh air! I have a feeling she liked being seen as a rebel, and didnt like seeming conventional.
She seemed to have had a turbulent life though, imagine finding out as an adult the man you thought was your father, wasnt!
I don’t think her life with Bob was stable at all. There were rumours of cheating on both sides, she had to badger him into marrying her. She had an ongoing affair with Rupert Everett (which he has spoken publicly on) plus Gerry Agar Fennell who was a close friend of Paula’s (or maybe more frenemy) has spoken about how she chased after high profile men at the time, specifically wanting someone high profile. Apparently she hit on Liam Gallagher and Robbie Williams but was turned down.
The sad reality is, looking back I’d bet my life that Paula either had narcissistic personality disorder or at a minimum, extremely narcissistic traits, likely inherited from and further exacerbated by her own mother.
She got with Bob because he was a “high value” musician and celebrity who also fulfilled the father figure she craved. She love bombed the
tit out of him, following him when he attended gigs and getting the nickname “the limpet”. She badgered him into marrying her. When his career started going down the drain and he was becoming a bit of a “has been”, Paula then sought out other high profile men (Liam Gallagher and Robbie Williams were at the height of the careers then), but was turned down because she was ultimately, a bit of a desperate groupie. They were too clued up for the love bombing to work.
Michael Hutchence was in a deeply vulnerable position - his relationship with the love of his life (Helena Christensen) was failing, he was recovering from a life changing injury and struggling to cope with the mental impact of that. So he fell susceptible to Paula’s love bombing and he fit the criteria of high profile rock star that she wanted.
People suffering from NPD or who are deeply narcissistic, don’t view people as other people… they view relationships like possessions. It’s why Paula chased after men who fit a specific criteria. You can’t create stability for someone who views you as a possession and who is chaotic themselves, as sad as it is.
Maybe Bob was as stable as much as it was possible for the likes of Paula.