Peaches Geldof and the Geldof family #3

[despair]

Tbf family relationships are complex. I’ve seen adults put their parents on a pedestal and crave their love and affection even if they were terrible parents.

Yeah I realise that. I personally don’t see it like that as there’s such natural warmth rather than adoration. But of course it’s possible

 

[despair]

Is that Fifi?

Yep! It’s a bit longer now.

 

[Cocobaby09]

Of course showbiz is full of nepo babies, Paula was one (via her father and her bio father, either way) I feel like Peaches might be the first nepo baby I’d seen from being born, through to gaining fame? I’m struggling to think of anyone of her generation who got there first.
Now, we’re overrun with Brooklyn and Lily Collins etc also Peaches started as a columnist, “dj” tv presenter/personality rather than being an actress/singer/model/influencer. She really was just famous for being famous really.

Jamie Lee Curtis was a Nepo baby, Carrie Fisher. Although they had talent in their own right.

 

[Beverley Macker]

Yeah, the drugs thing didn’t exactly ring true did it? In fact it made no sense that he wouldn’t be godfather because he was worried about the kids safety- all the more reason to say yes.

 

[despair]

All medical evidence I can find suggests about 5-8% of suicides are naked and therefore this at the time is an important clue in understanding the actions of the person. I wouldn’t call that ‘common’ as 92-95%are clothed which makes it more unusual and therefore important to consider the autoerotic asphyxiation possibility.

 

[hypoharpy]

Are there any PY biographies? Her autobiog is nearly £60 on amazon Or there's this for £3.99 on Kindle...


Big Girls Don't Cry - The Wild and Wicked World of Paula Yates' Mother
by Helen Thornton

We've got this book in our local library so if you're interested check if yours has it too.

 

[Suzesnooze]

I think this is very spot on. INXS weren’t doing quite as well anymore. Michael was the last of the group to have a child, and I think he felt a little bit lost as he was aging. Plus Paula’s social circle was pretty impressive - she moved in the same circles with Michael’s idols - Bono, David Bowie, Nick Cave. he was on the decline as a frontman and so was the band. He could never get access to these social circles otherwise.

I reckon his relationship with Helena started breaking down and then there was Paula - super keen, with a large brood already that he fell in love with, and she had a persona of an Earth mother/maternal goddess

I think he saw the girls and then tigerLily as a idealised family that offered an alternative life. But I think he was in love with the fantasy of family Life rather than the reality. I remember reading he’d cross the road to visit Nick caves house and bitch about how boring life was with Paula. The messy custody battle further hampered those dreams he had of an “escape” and I think being told the girls couldn’t come to aus made him feel like that ray of hope was no longer there, in his irrational drunk and drug induced mind.

if he’d met a woman who was a bit more mature and grounded, without the baggage of drug abuse and custody battles… hed have probably been content with that for a few years at least, and I don’t think he’d have died.

I think having a baby with Paula meant forever being tied to the U.K., to custody battles and it must’ve felt very hopeless to him. Had he maybe not had the head injury and subsequent mental health issues… and if he wasn’t so dependent on substances … he might’ve been able to withstand the custody drama until it was resolved. But it was all a very sad, tragic mix. It’s a tough decision to make but Paula could have come to Australia as planned with Tiger, and left the girls with Bob. Not idea and a hard decision for sure, but she knew the impact of not seeing Tiger would be hard on Michael - she said so herself - so why didn’t she fly out as planned? This sounds harsh and judgemental but I wonder if Paula saw Tiger as something of a leverage and a hold over Michael.

I remember hearing that one of the worst things for Michael when he lost his sense of taste and smell, was not being able to taste his girlfriend (Helena), which I think is so heartbreaking. I can’t imagine the gradual toll that would take on your mental health and that’s without the other factors.

I wonder why him and Helena didn’t have kids if he craved a family so badly?

 

[despair]

Tiger and young Fifi were more similar, but Fifi has lost a lot of weight and had her eyebrows tattooed and bleached her hair and really tried to channel her mum. She still looks like her dad, seems absolutely lovely.
Peaches was so troubled but so lovely. It’s nice for the boys their lives are now private. Although the cost of that privacy obviously a tragedy.

Oh wow I’ve just looked at some pics and she does look like Micheal Hutchence

 

[Scarlett O' Hara]

Aren’t the other ones just quite tall?

Paula was tiny so Tiger obviously takes after her mum. I also see Paula's features in Tiger, despite everyone saying she is her dads double. In fact I have never been able to see any resemblance with her other girls.

Bob G is very tall so his girls have his height.

 

[Lalla]

A Welsh eccentric and she defined herself as Welsh.

Apologies you're absolutely right, I'd meant to write British (or better should have said Welsh) I would edit my post if I could!

 

[lamaitresse]

OMG can we have more tea about the Fahey sisters? I came briefly into their orbit when sleeping with one of their friends, and would be keen to know gossip about them.

Spoiler: Off-Topic, All I've Got On Siobhan Fahey

Siobhan Fahey is Marco Pirroni's best friend (though you might know this already). How We Met: Siobhan Fahey & Marco Pirroni | The Independent | The Independent (this is from 2010, though he has talked about her on podcasts more recently).

 

[CoconotLoco]

Article in the DM (well, non article) showing Pixie out for a walk with her daughter. Did we know her baby was a daughter before?

It's a boy dunno why they keep saying daughter.

 

[despair]

It was the 80s, think how much time we waste on the internet these days, the amount of time we spend scrolling tattle we could have been off shagging Harry Styles instead

I kind of meant how was it all organised on the home phone?

 

[shellie]

IIRC his manager also confirmed it wasn’t their first meeting or first time hooking up and painted Paula out to be a bit of a groupie, pursuing him relentlessly after.

I mentioned in an earlier post, but at the time of Pixie’s conception, both Paula and Michael were in London. It’s very feasible he is her biological father and IMO very very likely. She has an uncanny resemblance to him.

---



It was the tube, a bit before my time. It was in 1985 they first met.

She flirted with every guy but with Michael, it was ramped up to 100. The Tube interview isn't as steamy as the BB one but you could clearly see the chemistry. Watching this, I do think it's possible they got together long before BB.

I have to agree about there being a chance he is Pixie's real dad. When they were younger, Tiger and she were very similar in my opinion, and with how much Tiger resembles Michael, I honestly wouldn't bet against it.

 

[FrostyChops]

I’d be up for a thread - I’ve listened to all the Comfort Eating podcasts and read her autobiography but still feel quite ambivalent!

Yeah l agree. She was really funny when she had a column and l kinda like her ldgaf attitude...but l'm not sure.

 

[Jelly Bean]

Do you think? Im not so sure.

Yes tbf I'm only going with the Agar book and nobody knows how reliable a narrator she is so

 

[HotesTilaire]

From what I remember, it was The Sun/News Of The World who found out and did the usual...give us the scoop or we'll go ahead anyway. They had been hassling him since at least the mid-80s talking about whether he had HIV/AIDs. I'm actually surprised it took so long for them to find out. You would think they would have been respectful knowing he was near the end but that's the press for you...as long as they sell their papers and money, they don't give a shit.

Back to the subject, I managed to get my hands on Paula, Michael, and Bob, the book by Gerry Agar after hearing people talk about it. Does anyone know how much of it is real and how much if any was made up...if it was real, it was shitty all the stuff Paula did...playing people off against each other, deliberately outing the affair, accusing Bob of hitting her, sending people to harass others...If it was fake, it's a shitty thing to do to someone you claimed was a friend, especially since they can't defend themselves.

I read it years ago, but I always felt that it was a mix of Geri being in PR and so, obviously she had to write a book, and also that she felt guilty and had to somehow right the wrongs she did.
I loved that Peaches and Pixie called each other Sharon and Tracy! Hope that’s true.

 

[FrannyGallops]

Don’t know, was hoping someone else could work that one out

Pixie was born on 17 September 1990 and PY and TTD’s affair was around 1987/1988 (I think Bob found out in 88). I suppose it’s possible if they carried on after Bob found out?

 

[HotesTilaire]

She was crying at the end and she just left the set really quickly on her own. There was an uncomfortable feeling in the air. I didn't like her but the bullying went too far. I think Merton thought she would give as good as she got but when he realised she couldn't he toned it down but Hislop got worse.

Wow that’s so bad. Did she even start out a bit tough and slowly get worn down, or was she unable to handle him right from the get go ?
and was she on drugs still at that stage?

 

[LoopyLou47]

this is true, but a court factors in other things beyond how “loving” and affectionate a carer is.

for one, staying with Bob meant tiger would be raised with her sisters, thus ensuring some continuity. She would stay in the U.K. in familiar surroundings. Further, some of tiger Lily’s blood relatives on the Hurchence side (namely her paternal grandparents), felt she was better off staying with her sisters in the U.K. and supported Bob, which would’ve been pretty compelling.

the other option was to release her to family in Australia, a half sister of Michael Hutchence, which meant having a child leave the U.K. jurisdiction (risky) to be with people she wasn’t as familiar with, in an unfamiliar environment. There was also concerns that Michael’s half sister was seeking custody in the hope of gaining access to any of Tiger’s potential inheritance.

Bob was the lesser of two evils, I always thought. Maybe he is a loving and present father though. Ultimately you never know what goes on behind closed doors.

Yes she hardly knew Hutchences family, did she?