I was rocking out to INXS during my Saturday run and was thrilled to (later) stumble upon this newly released interview of Michael Hutchence. I’m not sure why the Herald Sun decided to release this interview right now without an anniversary on the horizon. Hutchence famously took his own life in November 1997 in a Sydney hotel room. The coroner declared it a suicide, and this interview took place four days before Hutchence’s death. He hints at the darkness within by saying, “I can lose all of this whenever I want to.” Very creepy stuff.
I’m mostly including the parts about Bob Geldof and his high-octane custody battle with Paula Yates. Bob and Paula had three children together. They divorced in 1995 when it was revealed that Paula was bangin’ Hutchence. In all fairness, I’d have done just about anything for Hutchence back in the day. Paula was a total, drugged-out mess though, and she broke up her family in grand fashion.
It’s hard to blame Geldof for wanting to protect his girls after Paula went into a downward spiral, but I’ve always suspected that Bob acted a bit shady in his divorce dealings. Everyone took Sir Bob’s word on everything. Maybe that was justified. I don’t know. What is clear (from the coronor’s report) is that Hutchence called Geldof twice during the 24 hour period before death. Hutchence begged Bob to let Paula bring her children to live in Australia. Geldof claimed that Hutchence spoke in an “abusive, hectoring and threatening” manner. Hutchence’s body was found the next morning. Here are some excerpts from his final interview:
His role in the Geldof-Yates battle: “I have dealt with many demons in my life, but nothing compares to what I’ve had to face over the past few years. It would be so easy for me to say that I hate what I’ve become, but then, what I’ve become, certainly in the public eye, I’ve had no control over. I don’t like that. It concerns me a great deal that every move that I make is looked at, photographed, and made into gossip, some f—ing sound bite that doesn’t resemble the truth. I’d say it was much worse for Paula – but I’m a realist, I just do my best to confront these things and hope I come out of it stronger and wiser and a better person.”
He’s not just tabloid fodder: “I hate the fact that people’s perception of you is just fodder. Every move you make is just used to sell newspapers. I don’t want to be exposed like that all the time. I don’t want to be known as someone that’s just a shallow sound bite. I have worked too long and too hard for that. I have always just carried on my life the way I see fit. If that ruffles feathers, and it becomes tabloid fodder, then so be it. I’m not going to lock myself away or change my lifestyle to suit somebody else’s set of rules. I think that’s immoral. People should just remember: I am a musician. I am a singer. That’s it. I’m not complaining about the life I’ve got. I’m a dad, I sing, I travel, I get into most of the clubs for free. I have freedom and freedom gives you a certain amount of power. I can lose all of this whenever I want to.”
On wanting to marry Paula: “Every year, some columnist tells us we are going to get married somewhere. Last year it was in Queensland, the year before, it was in Italy. Marriage is a very personal thing and to deny it, well, you don’t want to deny it because it sounds like you don’t want to do it. To be honest, yes. I think there is a part of me that truly wants that. But in reality, we haven’t even discussed it. Some gossip columnist just thinks it’s pretty funny to tell us when we should.”
Bob Geldof was “evil”: “It is an easy contrast. A convenient one. Saint Bob and (a) wild boy rock star. You pick the one who people are going to believe? One day, the truth will be told.”
Does Michael want to tell the truth? “No, the ones who lie should be made to tell the truth.”
Being comfortable in his own skin: “Some days I am everything that I hate. There’s nothing if the truth won’t survive. That I can create, that I can write, that I can express, that is the light at the end of the tunnel. That is how you win the battle.”
[From Herald Sun]
And that was all he wrote. I still remember being so shocked when Hutchence died in 1997. Paula went into a deep depression before she died in 2000 froma heroin overdose. To Bob’s credit, he did adopt Paula’s daughter (Heavenly Hirani Tiger Lily) with Hutchence. Hutchence’s relatives claim Bob played dirty with them too and cut Tiger off from her father’s side of the family. Who knows what really happened, but it’s all tragic.
Here’s a picture of Paula Yates with baby Tiger Lily and more INXS photos in the gallery.
Photos courtesy of INXS on Facebook & WENN
Have missed this man so much … RIP.
If he was struggling so much with his public persona in 1997, he’d never have made it through the current shit-show that celebrities are expected to endure.
My first thought was “He would be so pissed if he was still alive this day and age”, with the media how it is now. The thing is, I do not remember anything negative being said about him in America. Maybe it was a uk/Australia media storm? Oh I loved him so, still do.
There is a much hyped mini series on INXS that started on Sunday night here in Australia. That is why this interview was released.
Ha you beat me to the punch! I thought the same.
I just got back from a long weekend in Brisbane and I was GUTTED I missed this. The commercials looked amazing. Whether amazing or amazingly bad, I couldn’t tell. I just knew I wanted to see it!!!
I was listening last night to one of my favorite podcasts, ¨The List¨ on Radio National, and they had an excellent interview with a guy who has written a book about INXS and was giving his opinion on the TV show (he thought it was good) and also talking about his memories of Michael. It was a great interview…check it out if you´re into INXS!
All that stuff with Paula was just tragic.
Yes – for all INXS fans it’s worth a look – I’m loving it. For those who recall Michael’s interviews towards the end and then Richard lowenstein’s extremely interesting article after his passing keep in mind the series is the Farris brothers interpretation of events. The interest in this series is HUGE in Aus. Michael is still very much missed.
Interesting; I can’t wait until it can somehow make it’s way over here.
What a hot man he was. It seems like a sad situation and pretty obvious that Bob was the more stable parent. I don’t really know enough about the whole scandal though.
I use to LOVE him. I was listening to INXS this morning on the train to work. Original Sin… 🙂
I share your love of Michael…. I was in Myrtle Beach on my honeymoon in Sept ’97 & they were at the House of Blues. My husband wanted to take me, and we decided to see them in the spring… it was our last nite there. I was stunned when he passed a couple.of months later. Love his music.
They were such huge icons to my generation. What a waste. I’m still not sure that the suicide verdict was accepted by everyone.
I always thought he supposedly died indulging in a little auto-erotic asphyxiation and Paula Yates actually went to court to have the coroner’s verdict changed to “death by misadventure” or some such, thinking that it would be less traumatic for her daughter than her thinking he chose to leave her through suicide.
He had such a sexy singing voice. Most modern rockers don’t have anything so instantly recognisable, sigh…
Bex — I never thought he committed suicide.
At his death, I remember Paula Yates insisting over and over that he practiced autoerotic asphyxiation, and she was certain it was not a suicide.
Even the ex girlfriend that he was speaking to a few hours before his death said his mood was good and they had a very normal chat.
I take the interview as meaning that he could choose to walk away from public life whenever he chose to, as opposed to meaning he was ready to end it all.
Paula seemed to change her mind a lot over what had happened to Michael – understandably, I mean she was distraught. But she was at one point involved in a row with Q Magazine because they reported a big story on how Michael died of autoerotic asphyxiation, leaving a message on their office machine where she yelled, “it’s killing us without having stories saying he was having a f*cking w*nk on a door – he wasn’t!” Naturally they printed her whole rant, because the hysterics of a grieving woman are hilarious, right?
Next month’s issue she had changed her mind following the coroner’s findings, and Q graciously published her revised opinion under the headline, “He WAS having a w*nk on a door!”
Q was always classy.
If you want to see how good INXS was live compared to today’s gimmicky bands/pop acts watch their live performance on youtube at wembly July 1991 peforming New Sensation live before 70,000 fans on their feet the whole day. And read the comments One of the best rock bands of that era, few bands today could touch them when they were at their pinnacle.
Not that he’s any kind of authority, but Bono has said that when Paula was still alive it was important for her to not think that he left her, but now that she too has passed, his belief is it was suicide. “Stuck In A Moment” is about Hutchence.
This whole story was tragic all round. I have read similar interviews or stories where it has been said that Bob was being just horrible and threatening. I imagine that if this had happened to me – wife/husband runs off with someone else, takes hard drugs and then wants to move all the children to the other side of the world – I am not sure I would be a very nice person and would probably either crack under the strain or just become unbearable in my struggle to keep my kids near me and safe too.
I believe Michael wanted to move back to Oz because he felt beleaguered by the British tabloid press – and who can blame him for that.
At the end of the day, this is just a sad sad story.
miss michael toox
I wouldn’t be so eager to let my children relocate to the other side of the world with a couple of drug addicts either.
Yeah. And seeing her walk down the street with a nearly naked baby is weird.
@Ziggy I thought the same. It seems to be a warm day, going by how the two women are dressed, but babies are more sensitive to the cold than adults. And what’s with the blankets?
Absolutely. I’m not a fan of Sir Bob, and think he definitely has a nasty streak, but he was perfectly justified in not allowing HIS children to move to another continent in the care of two, shall we say, unstable people. Especially because there was no real reason why Hutchence had to move back to Australia – he just wanted to. His desire to avoid the British press is less important than the children’s need to be close to their father.
CLEARLY unstable people.
Exactly. I thought Paula was brilliant and I was a huge fan of Michael, but they were both such messes. I wouldn’t have trusted either with a goldfish, let alone 4 young children. The children, including Tiger Lily, were much better off with Bob.
There’s a two-part INXS miniseries called INXS: Never Tear Us Apart currently being shown in Australia. The first episode premiered last night. I’d say this is why this interview has been resurrected.
Did any of my fellow Aussies actually watch the miniseries? I didn’t (don’t watch much TV), but I did see that it got huge ratings.
watched it. i didn’t love it, but it is OK. I loved INXS with Michael very much, it is hard to believe that he chose to just end his life the way he did. Wish someone made a big movie about the band’s golden years.
I watched it too. It was okay. Not great.
I dunno about this…any guy that is willing to adopt the orphaned child of his ex and the man who his ex cheated with can’t be all bad.
It was the only sensible thing to do so I wouldn’t be too quick to put him in sainthood just because of this. It would take a pretty awful person to deny Tiger growing up with her only sisters.
It’s only sensible? It shows more compassion and generosity than many people show to their biological children.
Sure, and I don’t find that sensible, do you?
Well, yes and no. I wouldn’t regard Michael’s family as being awful for wanting to raise Tiger themselves instead though. It’s just a miserable situation all around, especially as her grandmother, aunts and uncles are usually on the other side of the world.
But by all accounts, Tiger is Bob’s pet. He’s no saint, but he has always been an arch-pragmatist, albeit a total soft-touch when it came to his kids.
The assumption in the press was that the Hutchence family was all for having Tiger be raised with her sisters and that there was no opposition to this (until of course later, when they didn’t get visitation with her). For Bob to deny them this, right after Tiger’s mother passed, would be pretty harsh.
Fair enough gg, it’s just that I remembered it as being almost straight off the bat after Paula’s death the Hutchence family began their fight for custody (I thought that there was some issue in the press about them wanting visitation even before). But you know what my memory is like 😉
Geldof is no saint, but when it comes to Michael and Paula he was. For the sake of the kids.
I know nothing about any of these people but read the story because it sounded like a nice tragic story and I was right. Something you would read about in Vaniy Fair. Maybe Geldof was evil I don’t know but why did Paula Yates think she could just up and move her kids with Bob across the world because it was convenient for her since her new boyfriend wanted to live in Australia? This has shades of Halle Berry written all over it. Whoever mommy is banging and babying with at the moment is where she wants to be. Is Bob Geldof the father to Peaches Geldof? If so isn’t she some druggie too? If so sounds like he didn’t do such a great job at parenting.
Yes he is her father and she did have a drug problem when she was younger. I think she was 10 when Paula killed herself. She’s now married with two small children and seems to have created a wonderful family for herself. I follow her on Twitter and her little boys are always smiling and laughing in photos and video. She doesn’t have a nanny like so many of the rich and has thrown herself into motherhood with a vengeance. She’s a talented writer and seems to have finally grown up. From what I understand her childhood, as well as her sisters’, was pretty chaotic.
As for Bob and the custody thing…I know Paula and Michael were desperate to have the girls but honestly, they were both unstable and Bob was perfectly justified in his actions. I think it was pretty awesome that he took Tiger in to live with him and her half-sisters after Paula’s death so that she really got to know his girls as sisters and be part of a family.
From things that Peaches has said, Bob was not the greatest Dad (or Grandad), and it sounds like the Nanny was the one who was there for the girls and she is, I believe, a Godmother to Peaches kids. Doesn’t surprise me. A lot of the rich & famous strike me as pretty narcissistic and probably leave a lot of the real parenting to nannies.
I recall an article indicating bob & his partner lived on a different floor to the children and barely had any interaction with them. The nanny raised them totally. By all accounts a very odd upbringing. I hope Tiger turns out ok.
Isn’t it strange how history can repeat itself? Bob’s mother died when he was young and his father was usually on the road as a salesman. What I’ve heard from people who remember him he was a gent, but probably wasn’t the most present of parents.
Thanks for your insightful and positive comment about Peaches and everybody else’s comments too.
I am sure MH thought Bob was “evil”, but a bit much to think he’s going to let his three kids move in with two drug addicts. Reminds me of how Terry Gilliam(think that’s right) tried to throw shade at Michelle Williams for not allowing their daughter to visit Heath Ledger while he was filming at some distant locale from her- and this while he was still using. It’s hard to imagine anyone thinking drug using folks and small children together is ever a good idea.
How sad. He seems trapped in his own little world. I don’t think Sir Bob was the real enemy, or at least not the biggest one he was dealing with.
Of course Bob cut Tiger’s grandparents out of her life-that’s what he does. After Paula died, he adopted her and had Tiger’s name changed from Hutchence to Geldof-and no visits with grandma.
Cutting off from drugged up parents I can maybe see, but a name change and nothing with granny or aunts and uncles? Disgusting.
I do agree with you about this. If he cut Tiger off from her father’s family like that, it was just wrong. It’s one thing to adopt her and even change her last name (a lot of kids *want* to have the same name as the others in the family), but he should’ve, imo, encouraged her realationship with her father’s family. She deserves that and so do they.
In fairness to Geldof, he didn’t change her last name – he added to it. Her legal last name now is Hutchence-Geldof. He’s always said he added it so that she would have some unity with her sisters. His behavior might be bad, but that name change story has never been totally true. She still has her father’s last name.
She does still have the Hutchence part of her name, true. Personally, I’ve always wondered if it was less to do with giving her some unity with her sisters, and more to do with wanting to give one final “f-k you” to Michael’s memory…
I have never heard any explanation as to why Geldof did this. He’s never gone on the record to explain his actions either, so it all seems unjustified to me.
Michael’s family aren’t great people. When Michael died they seemed more upset about the fact his assets weren’t what they thought than that he had died. They do a few very well-paid interviews every few years, talking about how sad they are they they don’t have a relationship with Tiger Lily, then nothing until they run out of cash again.
Bob doesn’t have a restraining order out against them, they could just use some of the money they get paid selling the sob stories to hop on a plane and knock on his front door. But they don’t.
If I recall correctly, Paula did not have a good relationship with Michael’s family before she died. That might be part of the reason that Tiger Lily doesn’t have a relationship with them.
IDK, considering this interview was given four days before his ‘suicide’, he doesn’t sound to me like someone who is on the verge of killing himself. And his comments about Geldof, “It is an easy contrast. A convenient one. Saint Bob and (a) wild boy rock star. You pick the one who people are going to believe? One day, the truth will be told.” are rather cryptic.
And what does a person on the verge of killing himself sound like? You can’t base his mental state on an interview. I knew a man who committed suicide. I saw him the day before he did it. He was cheerful, jokey and upbeat.
I do think it is horrible that this pair of unstable junkies thought bringing new life into the world was a good idea. Nothing says “I love you” to a child more than mom and dad offing themselves, right?
We should have a vintage gossip section 😀
That would be fun! At least for golden oldies like myself! All the juicy stories from the pre-internet era!
Yes please! In the days before the internet, we missed out on a lot!
That is priceless- and a great idea!
I love that idea!
Love it!
CB, Kaiser and Bedhead….*pretty please?????!!!!*
Yes, this please! 😀
we SO should !!
I’m sure that St. Bob has a force of personality and/or a willfulness that comes across when he’s challenged. By the time of divorce from Yates he was not just called St. Bob, he became St. Bob and you don’t get there without some serious focus. Yates and Hutchence on the other hand were big old messes by this time. The adults were too busy indulging in their own wants and fronting to take a look at what was best for the children. It was a tragic situation all around.
I am just going to say it and this is based on interviews I have watched with Yates and articles I have read about her, Paula Yates was an awful person. She is just as much responsible for Michael’s misery as Geldolf was. She was a drug addict, a manipulator and a crazy lunatic.
While Michael had his own demons and drug issues he wrestled with, she made everything worse for him.
He deserved better.
I have read a lot about Paula and it all backs this up. She was dealing with a very heavy amount of addiction and even her neighbors have relayed observations about her drinking and addiction that paint a very lonely sad picture of Paula.
Paula was the worst person for Michael to have in his life.
eliza, I think you’re the first person here to really call it re: Paula Yates. INXS was the band of my adolescence, Michael my biggest girlhood crush. I have never been entirely convinced that he committed suicide, nor that Sir Bob was saintly. But the one incontrovertible fact is that Paula was a complete mess. A minor celebrity who long believed she was someone ‘special’, she was an addict who brought the chaos that most addicts do to the lives of people who love them. One thing I’m relatively sure of is that Hutchenance may well be alive today if not for his relationship with her. Two dreadfully unstable people do not one whole person make. Neither of them were stable, but Paula torched every life she touched. Sad and tragic, period.
I agree with you ncmagnolia 100% regarding Paula Yates. Michael had a lot of demons and his live went downhill after he fell in Copenhagen…he kind of went off the rails. Things may have worked out very differently if he had sought help for his problems.
I miss Vintage Scandal Mondays. Please bring it back. I still don’t think he killed himself I think it was auto-erotic hanging he was hanging off a doorknob. 🙁 very sad either way.
I gotta wonder how someone hangs themselves when the other end of the rope is as low as a doorknob and there is no one else present – anybody?
Kneeling… I think
I had the pleasure of working with INXS in 1995 and got to talk quite extensively with Michael. One of the topics he discussed at length with me ( he was feeling rather down and wanted someone to talk to, a stranger as I happened to be ) was suicide. I won’t go into details about the things he confided that night to me but if I had to guess what happened that night in that hotel I would def think Michael committed suicide, unfortunately.
I love INXS. I saw them in concert 1 month before he died.
http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/features/38404/The-INXS-mini-series-is-must-see-TV-for-all-the-wrong-reasons
Supplemental info for non-Aussies.
Actually this piece I find very interesting. Celebs were a completely different ball game back then. Perhaps he sounds like he did not enjoy fame and could have done without it. So different then what we see now aka Kardashians. Life was very different in the 80s.
I think Bob Geldof was known as a kind person ( he put Live Aid together) but Mike is saying he wasn’t that great guy we all thought.
There was a lot of drama back then – he dated Helena Christiansen who was my all time favorite model too
Bob put BandAid and LiveAid together not because he was nice, but because he was a doer and saw a way of getting things done and was just pissed off enough to get off his arse and do it.
Helena was apparently awful to Michael…compared him unfavourably to Bono & U2 and dismissed INXS’s worth and credibility. Went weeks without seeing him and then was cold to him. He was unimpressed with the supermodel lifestyle and grew to dislike it…saw it as shallow. At some stage they were planning to marry – she bought a wedding dress from Chanel. I’ve never been able to view her the same since.
Carolyn, Yes I believe Helena was very vocal and had something of a temper and for sure their relationship, specially towards the end, was very sour to him. He was very down about it.
I saw INXS weeks before he died and he was awesome – energetic, connected with the audience totally, in fine voice. I was so shocked when he supposedly offed himself but there was also talk that it was an auto-erotic “accident”. He was a seriously kinky guy so no surprise, just like David Carradine. Geldof may be an arrogant bugger but I can totally understand why he didn’t want to let Paula and Hutchence have the kids, they were both hot messes.
Team Bob, he knew that they were obviously unstable. Don’t poke Papa bear by taking his kids half way round the world in an unstable environment. Paula tried to come off as this earth Mother type, but Bob said she was very self serving in real life. A bad man would NOT take on a child belonging to his ex wife that was not his imo.
Totally agree. Why on earth would he let the drugged up loser who broke up his family take his kids away? And I think I’m right in saying that Tiger found her mother’s dead body after her overdose – which I believe was on one of her other daughters’ birthdays. Nice.
Bob Geldof certainly has his faults, but he made the right call in this situation.
Oh, and Michael Hutchence’s mother was a bit of a nutjob who was always trying to get money out of Michael’s estate – despite the fact that it went to her granddaughter.
This drama was front page news in the UK media for best part of a decade until Paula’s shocking death. It was high drama that brought new revelations everyday. Real life soap opera.
I was at university, huge INXS fan, so of course gobbled up all the media reports. Memory like an elephant here, so will make corrections to above post.
Firstly, Michael Hutchense wasn’t a suicide. That was the initial report, but then it leaked that he had died from an auto-erotic sex game gone wrong. Something about oranges, masturbation and ties to the door of his hotel room. His was into Kinky sex and drugs.
Paula was distraught at the suicide verdict and wouldn’t accept it on the grounds that Michael wouldn’t leave Tiger and her. His parents were mortified at the manner of his death, but Paula was powerless and so the verdict of suicide stayed.
Where the divorce/custody battle are concerned, it was rough. And no one except Bob seemed to hold back.
Paula met Michael on a morning TV show (the Big Breakfast) and fell for him instantly. She left Bob for him and her persona changed completely. Prior to Michael, she was a somewhat wholesome, saucy, flirtatious, kooky woman in a rock and roll way. She never drank or took drugs.
Michael was largely blamed for introducing her to drugs and it went from zero to dependent in no time. Her personality changed, she was high a lot of the time, but they were very happy.
Simultaneously, this custody battle was going on. Bob lost his halo as he was painted very badly. Paula and Michael often said he harassed them, plus the media were having a field day reporting all the salacious details of Paula and Michael’s new life.
Around the time of Michael’s death, he wanted Paula to visit him with the girls. It wasn’t a permanent move, but Bob refused and Paula wouldn’t travel without her girls.
The phone calls in those 24hrs were allegedly an argument because Paula had given a final negative response to his invitation and blamed it all on Bob, so Michael was angry with Bob.
When he died, Paula fell apart. She self-medicated her broken heart with drugs which spiralled out of control. The lady in the photo above more or less moved in with her and or kept a very close eye on her so that the kids could be looked after properly.
Paula looked so awful during the years after Michael’s death. She also found out that the man who raised her, who she adored, wasn’t her bio father, but someone else entirely. (both dead)
Between that and Michael’s death, her fragile psyche just fell over. She died soon after that.
And Bob, did the only decent thing he could do in the circumstances, which was to adopt Tiger.
There is a picture of Tiger sitting on the curb the day of Paula’s death that is seared in my memory. She looked abandoned and alone. I’m so happy to read that she’s OK.
Good post. I’m old enough to remember Paula when she was with Bob and became famous for being on ”The Tube”. My memories of her – though rather vague – are similar to yours. Sure, she was brash, sexy, and slightly outrageous, but she and Bob were always depicted as being quite clean-living and devoted to their children, despite their rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. There was certainly never any suggestion she was a junkie. Obviously, people aren’t always the way they seem, but given the amount of media interest in Bob and Paula, I reckon we’d have heard about it if she were into drugs. It seems to have been Micheal who set her on the road to destruction, not the other way round.
‘The Tube’ and ‘Top of the pops’ were must see TV in my house. I was so jealous that Paula was friends with/hanging out with all those rock stars.
I think Paula was one of the last genuine ‘groupies’, as opposed to the fame hos we have hanging around rock stars these days. What I mean is that she was genuinely into music and the rock star lifestyle herself, not just hoping to bag a rockstar because a) he was hot and b) she could make her own ‘career’ out of being his girlfriend. But I suppose just as we have no real rock stars anymore, neither do we have any real groupies. They are a thing of the past.
“Groupies” are not and never have been really known for their love of music – – despite what they claim. It’s pretty obvious they’re only after the famous rockstar peen and any fame that falls off that.
Also I remember that Paula had a totally different image before she split with Bob. She had written a couple of books on parenting and had a bit of an earth mother thing going on.. I never believed Michael committed suicide either, but v tragic story all round…
Her biological father was Hughie Green, who I always thought Peaches looked a bit like.
Didn’t herself and Hutchence meet on “The Tube” originally? I remember that episode of The Big Breakfast (owned by Bob) when Michael was on; she flirted with everybody but the chemistry was amazing. Although, in fairness Hutch could generate chemistry with a scarecrow!
Bob Geldof might be a real card, but in this situation, I can understand him. He didn’t want his daughters to predominantly live with two people who, at the time, were not stable or really safe to be around. From everything I’ve read about Paula Yates, she was profoundly troubled and was not in a position to be a good mother. I doubt Hutchence could have provided the stability kids needed. I don’t blame him for fighting like hell on that acount.
As to keeping Tiger isolated from her family, I’ve seen mixed accounts. It seems like Michael’s sister and mother are the ones most active in trying to see Tiger. His father and other relatives seem a lot less concerned. When Michael’s mother died, Tiger didn’t attend the funeral. It was a huge story until some of the Hutchence relatives came out and said they concurred with Geldof that she shouldn’t go due to safety concerns. A lot of that seems to vary based on who’s being interviewed. I’m not sure I’m comfortable saying what I think about that situation, because you can’t really figure out the facts.
God, I remember all this sh*tstorm so well – was it really so long ago? I feel old.
I’m sure Bob Geldof isn’t perfect and I’ve no doubt Hutchence felt Geldof was being vindictive, and maybe he was, but really – you have an affair with his wife and then expect him to give his blessing and allow you to take the kids to the other side of the world too? Come on!
I have no doubt that Paula Yates just played Michael off against her supposedly demonic ex. I used to adore her as a quirky TV personality but around the time of her affair with Hutchence, she really exposed herself as a vain, childish person determined to have everything her own way. Everything was someone else’s fault, usually Bob’s, and she seemed to feel no responsibility for having caused the situation in the first place. It was embarrassing. Maybe it was the pressure of public resistance that made her seem so unlikeable – she wanted people to buy into the narrative of her epic romance, her unstoppable passion, but public perception was “Poor Bob”. Not to mention, cruelly, “who’d leave Helena Christensen for Paula Yates?”
At any rate, I seem to remember Bob being praised by Hutchence’s family as a great dad, a loving parent who generously fostered, and later adopted Tiger so she could be with her sisters and have a stable home life. I guess they changed their minds…
I remember the ‘who’d leave Helena Christiensen for Paula?’ articles. Media is cruel.
Totally. Cruel and sexist and patronising.
But dare I say it, accurate? Why break up a family for hot-mess neurotic groupie Paula when you had smart, accomplished Helena? (who he cheated on, BTW).
Given that Paula abandoned her family for a fling with Michael, I feel just fine being judgy and patronising.
l’m with you, Kath. I fully blame Paula. She must have had serious issues to do what she did (especially as a mother). She completely ruined a rather naive Hutchence and god knows the damage she did to her other girls and Bob. Poor sweet Tiger who lives with it all on a daily basis… How heartbreaking it must be for her. God bless her.
I forgot how beautiful Michael Hutchence was :-/
A gorgeous man
I saw INXS in concert in the late 80’s. Hutchence was one of the hottest men ever. My little high school self barely recovered. I was in something like the 8th row. And tickets back then were like $8!!!
i saw INXS during the X tour when i was around 11 or 12. my first gig. it was stunning and i’ll never forget it. i’m not sure i’ve ever seen anyone with that much charisma since.
I am too young to remember any of this but my mum told me she sat next to Bob Geldof at a restaurant in the 90s. He was with his current girlfriend and it was around the time this scandal was going on. She said he looked totally i love with his new girlfriend and very happy. So she has always maintained that his main concern was the children’s safety and well being and he wasn’t acting out of some nasty vindicate streak because he was still in love with Paula as has been portrayed by some.
Talk about a blast from the past..
Gossip was so different back then.
Remember, he was still riding high from Live Aid and didn’t he have a roll in “Do they know it’s Christmas time” as well? And I do remember it was quite the scandal back in the day. But I also remember little bit of rumblings about how Bob wasn’t quite the guy everyone wanted him to be. This doesn’t take away the hot mess that Micheal and Paula were, but I want to say I think they were in a good place back then. Not quite so hot mess.
I do remember there being a lot of speculation about Micheal’s death.. and that some things didn’t seem on the up and up.. and how Bob might have had a hand in “pushing them” both over the edge.
I do agree with the good guy/bad guy annology back then.
If this type of situation would have happened in this day and age, the details most likely would have blown our socks off.
Paula and Bob’s kids seemed to go off the rails for a bit, still questionable on one of them, but for him to adopt Micheal’s and Paula’s daughter did sound like a “kind and caring thing’ but for him to block access to her family.. screams control monster to me.
Very sad story all around, and to this day, the real victims have been the girls. Maybe one day, a great tell all will happen, if not, this will stay lore for those old enough to remember what happened.
The single came first, Christmas 1984 and Live Aid was July 1985… Oh yes, I remember it well. We stayed up until late in the night to watch it all; all huddled around a black-&-white telly 😉
There have already been some very good, insightful books on this…more sympathetic to Michael than Paula.
DEAR GOD.
Has there ever been anyone sexier than Hutchence?
Loved him.
Tragic sad story…
Probably not. He had even more charisma than Mick Jagger, in my opinion after seeing them live. Which is really hard to do.
He always reminded me of Jim Morrison .. Totally gorgeous with that long curly hair.. He went out with Kylie minogue for quite a long time too..
Ps I vote for the vintage gossip too! 😉
Even though he was small, I well remember how incredibly sexy he was, and I was in awe of this tiny figure in this arena that just exuded sexiness. growlr!
His whole act was based on Morrison.
Micheal Hutchence is generally listed with Robert Plant, Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger, and Roger Daltry as among the greatest front men ever. No one today in any genre is even close when you consider all these greats performed consistently in stadium rock type settings,
Add Mark Farner to that list. Grand Funk Railroad.
I saw inxs live 6 times even the early days. Michael was extraordinary on stage…I can’t put it into words. He had something that very few performers have. Respect these idol/ the voice etc shows but come on…none of these people have the power and raw magnetism of real stars performing with a stellar band. INXS in their heyday were phenomenal.
YES!
Wow, I never really knew about this story until now. How sad for Tiger Lily. I hope this Geldof guy is a good father to her and that she feels loved.
That Huchence boy was one tasty morsel!
Suicide? I was it was one of those sexual, choking things that went wrong.
The coroner didn’t release the autopsy reports..weird.
They are releasing it because there is a new tv show out here in aus based on his life. Heaps of media around here about inxs at the mo.
I recall Michael’s unfortunate hair dye and attire at the time he died (at 37) and a media comment along the lines that he was dressing “too young” and looked a bit pathetic. Now I’m OLDER THAN HIM. Arrgh!
OMG, I teared up just seeing his name and that beautiful pic of him.
It is my firm belief that Micheal would have never commit if Bob had let the girls go to Australia.
After watching the two episodes of INXS Never Tear Us Apart, it seems to me that Micheal was very excited to see his daughter. When Paula rang and said that they can’t come to Australia (just to see him, not to live there) devastated him. It looked like the only thing keeping him going was the fact that he could very soon see Tiger and Paula. For bob not to see that Micheal was that desperate on the phone is inexcusable. I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t come to Australia for a little. I hope Bob realized how much Tiger meant to Micheal when he found out he commit suicide after Micheal calling him begging him to see his daughter/step daughters. Micheal had many problems but Bob made everything harder. You only commit suicide if you see no light at the end of the tunnel, when you don’t see an end. I see nothing wrong Bob taking Tiger in, (although i think Micheal family wanted to raise her) but to change her last name to hutchence-geldof was severely wrong of him. See is not Geldof blood, she is Hutchence. him changing her last name is like saying to Micheal “i won, and now i have your kid”. The thing that gets me the most is the fact he never let her see her fathers family. He took away the people Micheal loved the most when he needed them the most. For this I have a very deep hatred for this man.
I only hope Tiger Lily has a good life and when see turns 18 she goes to Australia to see her fathers family and meet the band her father was in. I’ve read she is a good singer, i hope she records a song with INXS sometime.