Peaches Geldof and the Geldof family #3

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

It was a bit of a puff piece, really. Belinda Brewin even said she wasn't going to get into all that when asked about Bob and Paula, so it wasn't going to delve into the seedier side of Paula's life. I'm glad about that, because she isn't here to stick up for herself.

I was a big fan of hers when I was at school and I remember when she was in HIGNY and it was awful, I remember watching it and feeling deeply uncomfortable, there was lots of misogyny that I was too young to unpick at the time.

The one exchange in the documentary that upset me was when she was on Ian Wright's show, after Michael Hutchence's had died and she was flirting with Ian and then she caught herself in the moment and her whole face changed and you could see the pain. Very sad.

I wonder if Bob regrets his behaviour around that time, he was awful. I'm not saying Paula was innocent but he could have helped her more, she was the mother of his children and her spiral triggered a chain of events that led to his daughter's death. So sad, all of it

 

[HotesTilaire]

I watched to doc on Hughie Green at the weekend, a journo friend told the Sun or News of the World.

The journo/friend announced it in his eulogy at the funeral, that Huggies had another child, and that she was a top UK tv presenter.
That was bad enough, but I actually think what her mother did was worse. She was asked if there was any truth in that because Paula was going to sue. The mother said it was totally untrue, Paula did the DNA just for evidence to sue the papers and stop them saying Hughie was her father.
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It was quite a strange programme altogether really. I think whoever made it was at massive pains to not offend the Geldof family (Bob). Big chunks glossed over or left out, and the bizarre inclusion of Grace Dent and Vanessa Feltz who never mentioned actually meeting her.
It wasn't bad, just really quite odd.

I suppose there are people who liked her and like TTD said, want to celebrate her life. There’s plenty of hate written about her, so it’s just another perspective. There‘s three sides to every story.
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yep. Being diagnosed with Austism has no real baring on a personality disorder. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, and they can be misdiagnosed for the other (they frequently are).

I don’t know when Courtney’s autism diagnosis was made and I’m not qualified to diagnose her (obviously) but the childhood trauma, the substance abuse, the personal instability which are all well documented - lends itself more to a PD rather than autism. And of course, PDs are also hereditary.

I think both are likely!

 

[Jelly Bean]

The journo/friend announced it in his eulogy at the funeral, that Huggies had another child, and that she was a top UK tv presenter.
That was bad enough, but I actually think what her mother did was worse. She was asked if there was any truth in that because Paula was going to sue. The mother said it was totally untrue, Paula did the DNA just for evidence to sue the papers and stop them saying Hughie was her father.
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Ah yes that's right it was the family friend who mentioned it in the eulogy. It was him and Hughie Green's daughter (Paula's half sister) who were on This Morning. Wanting to welcome Paula to the family

 

[plinky2]

I think it’s actually interesting how Paula herself set Bobs personality as cold and horrible - she used it to make herself feel less terrible about leaving him. He also did seem to help her. I believe he also helped MH - didn’t Bob actually move out and help MH with a place to live by swapping? I honestly don’t think he hated either of them, it was just he was not about to let her zoom off to Australia after MH on tour and stood his ground about their schooling. Ultimately MH and PY had a lot of problems in themselves and Bob telling them they couldn’t just do as they pleased if it affected the kids did not land well. Bob worrying about his kids being away for a long period on tour with a rock band was a legit concern

 

[HotesTilaire]

The thing is it’s all a tabloid construct. He’s only “Saint Bob” because that was the headline for Live Aid.He did something good, used his platform to show the suffering in Ethiopia, raised money.

Great. Im sure “Jezebel” Paula got fed up of it, they’re just people at the end of the day, we’ve all got our lovely qualities and our crappy ones. Paula, Bob and Michael all had a lot of trauma and difficult upbringings, and all sought fame - lead singers are a breed apart! I don’t think any of them were saints or devils, just quite broken people.

I think the big question is what would have happened to Peaches if Paula lived. She spent her adult years doing everything her mum did - getting married in Vegas, tattoos, tv presenting, writing, underwear modelling, taking heroin, having kids, trying to get clean, and ultimately, taking H after being clean which killed her.

 

[Eirawen]

It was a bit of a puff piece, really. Belinda Brewin even said she wasn't going to get into all that when asked about Bob and Paula, so it wasn't going to delve into the seedier side of Paula's life. I'm glad about that, because she isn't here to stick up for herself.

I was a big fan of hers when I was at school and I remember when she was in HIGNY and it was awful, I remember watching it and feeling deeply uncomfortable, there was lots of misogyny that I was too young to unpick at the time.

The one exchange in the documentary that upset me was when she was on Ian Wright's show, after Michael Hutchence's had died and she was flirting with Ian and then she caught herself in the moment and her whole face changed and you could see the pain. Very sad.

I wonder if Bob regrets his behaviour around that time, he was awful. I'm not saying Paula was innocent but he could have helped her more, she was the mother of his children and her spiral triggered a chain of events that led to his daughter's death. So sad, all of it

To be fair she had cheated on Bob very publicly and it was probably best that he kept out of her business it could have triggered Paula to latch on to him again which I am sure he didn't want. She was the Mother of his children put she usually put her needs first which and cared little about what others thought or the effect on her children.

RE HIGNY seeing how intelligent she and many others thought she was I was expecting her to come back at slimey Hislop with an almighty put down of her own but she didn't much to my surprise.

 

[Fruitshop]

She never came across as that intelligent to me even though I know the ditsy character was a front. She liked to announce her intelligence so people would believe it. I always thought it was a double bluff

 

[Eirawen]

She never came across as that intelligent to me even though I know the ditsy character was a front. She liked to announce her intelligence so people would believe it. I always thought it was a double bluff

Thats what I think as well, fur coat and no knickers.

 

[Make It Stop]

Re Courtney Love I’m sure I’ve read somewhere before that she believes her father used to drug her with LSD when she was a young child so he could S/A her.

 

[despair]

yeh I think she’s mentioned on the doc herself, she was in her 40s, a mother of 4, her personal life was messy and tragic. Society/the media in the 90s wasn’t forgiving towards “jezebels” especially when they were aging.

the young bubbly flirty schtick wasn’t going to work for her anymore and she was cutely aware of that.

being the wife/girlfriend of a rockstar was her ultimate goal - it always had been. She’d achieve that with Bob and then he’d fallen from popularity. She’d had that with Michael but then he’d died. And at that point, she was the washed up one.

she had retreated to Hastings, and was acutely aware of all of the above. There’s no doubt in my mind that the despair of that realisation drove her to drug abuse.

I see a lot of similarities between Paula and Caroline flack. Both women were successful, popular, flirty tv presenters. Both women were very narcissistic. Both had messy love lives which had blown up in scandal shortly before their deaths. Both were women who were deeply immature and were looking at an (unfairly) bleak existence for women over the age of 40 in their chosen careers.

Caroline Flack was also charged with domestic violence and there was enough serious evidence to proceed without a witness. CPS do not do this without very consistent, clear evidence. I have been involved in situations where CPS could not build enough of a case to go to court DESPITE knowing how bad a situation had been. So given they decided to continue with the case I find all the glorifying of her very sickening.

 

[maytoseptember]

I don’t know when Courtney’s autism diagnosis was made and I’m not qualified to diagnose her (obviously) but the childhood trauma, the substance abuse, the personal instability which are all well documented - lends itself more to a PD rather than autism. And of course, PDs are also hereditary.

Interestingly there’s a lot of women out there with turbulent mental health, who have been diagnosed with personality disorders (especially borderline) but later have it overturned and changed to ASD.

It makes sense. A life of undiagnosed and unsupported autism can well lead to severe MH issues. And (biased?) psychiatrists may be more comfortable diagnosing BPD in a woman than autism. Too many clinicians don’t understand female autism.

There’s a documentary about female autism on BBC1 tonight, with Christine McGuinness, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

 

[granite grandma]

Did anyone ever find out what happened to michael’s money? Now that was a mystery, he basically died penniless because all his money was tied up in opaque and impenetrable trusts. Family believed he had been taken advantage of after his head injury when he may not have been thinking right.

 

[Eirawen]

Did anyone ever find out what happened to michael’s money? Now that was a mystery, he basically died penniless because all his money was tied up in opaque and impenetrable trusts. Family believed he had been taken advantage of after his head injury when he may not have been thinking right.

He must have had some money to buy drugs?

 

[cee-bee]

I think it’s actually interesting how Paula herself set Bobs personality as cold and horrible - she used it to make herself feel less terrible about leaving him. He also did seem to help her. I believe he also helped MH - didn’t Bob actually move out and help MH with a place to live by swapping? I honestly don’t think he hated either of them, it was just he was not about to let her zoom off to Australia after MH on tour and stood his ground about their schooling. Ultimately MH and PY had a lot of problems in themselves and Bob telling them they couldn’t just do as they pleased if it affected the kids did not land well. Bob worrying about his kids being away for a long period on tour with a rock band was a legit concern

whatever Bob geldof’s characterisation, I think he was very justified in preventing Paula just flying off with their young children to the other side of the world, especially in life of their drug usage.

I know it’s a very different lifestyle but it does feel to me like Paula and her love life very much came before all else, including her children. Dragging them across the world so she could be a groupie to her boyfriend, isn’t the type of example or environment young girls need.

After Michael died, she was reported to have had a toy boy lover shortly after, and checked herself into rehab which prompted MH’s father to try and seek custody of Tigerlily.

sad state of affairs really. Sounds like Paula didn’t have much by way of a supportive and loving mother and never knew how to be one herself.
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Did anyone ever find out what happened to michael’s money? Now that was a mystery, he basically died penniless because all his money was tied up in opaque and impenetrable trusts. Family believed he had been taken advantage of after his head injury when he may not have been thinking right.

Colin Diamond was his tax lawyer and held the funds on trust, or something along those lines.

he claimed MH’s fortune was wasted away on drugs and legal fees… hmmm

Tiger Lily only got £500

 

[Donnavanessa]

For anyone who watched the documentary Mystify it always stood out to me that all of Michael's ex-partners spoke so highly and respectfully about him even though he often overlapped them with someone else. It feels like they all accepted he was only theirs for a short time and were grateful for that.
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Was Robbie Williams as close to Paula as he makes out or just desperate to feature in this documentary?

I loved that documentary. IMO it gave a really good insight into MH’s personality.

 

[FrannyGallops]

RE HIGNY seeing how intelligent she and many others thought she was I was expecting her to come back at slimey Hislop with an almighty put down of her own but she didn't much to my surprise

I think at the time she just felt very beaten down by it. Lots of people hated her by this point including the press and the public. I actually think it was a bit gross that they ganged up on her like that and gave her a harder time than many politicians who have been on (including Bo Jo). I honestly don’t think they would have got away with it these days.

eta: I’ve just watched it on YouTube and tbh, I think it was mostly Ian Hislop than the others. Paul Merton even seemed to be defending her a bit at one point.

 

[Milliemoo99]

There's no way her phone was tapped. It was Nicky Clarke who mentioned it, she might have had voicemail messages hacked but the idea that the media were intercepting live phone calls is crazy

Why is it crazy to suggest that her phone was being hacked?

This was an era just before the tabloids really started to use phone hacking, but .....for instance Prince Charles had his phone hacked, as did Princess Diana, at this kind of time!

If there was money in it, Id imagine there would have been some kind of hacking, or trailing her after the death of MH. Or even as she was doing shows like Big Breakfast, people passing info on or listening into calls, as presumably secretaries etc would all have had access to a lot of the work calls?
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It was quite a strange programme altogether really. I think whoever made it was at massive pains to not offend the Geldof family (Bob). Big chunks glossed over or left out, and the bizarre inclusion of Grace Dent and Vanessa Feltz who never mentioned actually meeting her.
It wasn't bad, just really quite odd.

Vanessa Feltz worked with her on the Big Breakfast!

They both did the interviews from the bed segment!!!!!

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

Interestingly there’s a lot of women out there with turbulent mental health, who have been diagnosed with personality disorders (especially borderline) but later have it overturned and changed to ASD.

It makes sense. A life of undiagnosed and unsupported autism can well lead to severe MH issues. And (biased?) psychiatrists may be more comfortable diagnosing BPD in a woman than autism. Too many clinicians don’t understand female autism.

There’s a documentary about female autism on BBC1 tonight, with Christine McGuinness, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

This happened to a female relative of mine, she was diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder but she's since been diagnosed autistic. The two are similar, especially if they aren't looking for autism

 

[GalaxyGirl70]

I found the documentary to be very careful in what it said and seemed to make Paula out to be some sort of tragic figure. No one made her take heroin ffs.

I'm sure that there were articles in the press about Bob Geldof after she'd died, when he'd met Jeanne and that the children lived in the house next door with a nanny rather than with them.... no wonder Peaches never stood a chance. Neither parent seemed to want to put any of the grunt work into parenting them. I think Bob has been just as poor a parent as Paula was.

 

[plinky2]

No one expected MH to die that young so there was no proper provision for Tiger, as everything had been tied up in trusts to avoid tax.
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I remember seeing him on TGIF before he died and he looked truly horrendous. He was all thin, Sallow in the face, his hair was greasy and lank, he was shaky and I honestly find it hard to believe he was as blissfully happy as PY has made it seem