Sir Bob Geldof has revealed that he is still haunted by many aspects of his ex-wife, Paula Yates’ death, more than 25 years after her passing.
British TV personality Paula tragically died of an accidental heroin overdose on September 17, 2000, three years after her partner, INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, took his own life.
Now, Live Aid founder Bob – who was married to Paula for 10 years before she left him for Michael – has opened up on how he told their three daughters, Fifi Trixabelle, Peaches and Pixie, of their mother’s death.
“When I had to tell my children that their mum had died it was terrible,” an emotional Bob, 74, told Ireland’s RTE Radio 1.
“It was Pixie’s tenth birthday that day. All the other girls were there and excited and Pixie was all dressed up. She was going over to have lunch with her mum.
“I put down the phone as if it was just a phone call, and Fifi said, “What, don’t tell me, mum…”, and I said, ‘no, no,’ And then I said [to Pixie], “Go on, open your presents, stop messing around.”
Bob then turned to his partner, French actress Jeanne Marine, and said, “I don’t know what to do.”
Bob decided to draw on how he was told his mother had died when he was just eight years old.
“I remember the directness of my father, and that’s precisely what a child needs – tell me exactly,” he recalled.
“I just went up and did what my father did. And they reacted differently. But I still think I failed, actually… I think I didn’t do it right. That’s bugged me subsequently.”
Bob added that he allowed his daughters to see their mother’s body and that it helped them realise that Paula had “just simply gone”.
Bob and Paula had acrimoniously separated almost six years before her death, when Paula fell in love with INXS frontman Michael.
She left Bob for Michael in 1995, and they had a daughter, Tiger Lily, together in 1996. But after Michael tragically took his own life in 1997, Paula was consumed by grief, and Bob was awarded full custody of their three daughters in 1998.
After Paula’s death, Bob became Tiger Lily’s legal guardian. She was four years old at the time and had been alone in the house with Paula when she died. He formally adopted her in 2007.
In a further stunning revelation during the interview, Bob added that, for him, Paula’s death wasn’t as painful as losing her to Michael.
“The grief and agony of [Paula’s death] wasn’t as bad,” Bob confessed. “That was worse. I just didn’t want to wake up again.”
Bob also discussed his grief after his daughter, Peaches, died in 2014 at the age of 25 from an accidental heroin overdose.
He admitted that he still sometimes sees Peaches in his life, adding, “The grief does erupt,… I’ve been stopped at traffic lights, and suddenly Peaches was there. She was with me, and I wept.”
Despite everything that he’s been through, Bob said he deals with his intense grief now by “containing it” and that he has realised that love is the “central foundation” of life.
