Amid reports that Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof is pregnant with her first child, many are holding hope that the baby will bring about a reunion with her late father Michael’s side of the family.
New Idea exclusively broke the news that Tiger, 28, is expecting with her long-term boyfriend, model Ben Archer. Ben shared an Instagram post that featured a visibly heavily pregnant Tiger.
Not long after, the pair were seen out and about on the streets of London, where they live, with Tiger showing off her growing bump.
Now, an insider tells New Idea that the happy news could be “just the thing” to heal a reported family rift that began after Michael’s brother, Bali-based Rhett Hutchence, was cut off years ago.
Following Michael’s death in 1997 and the loss of her mother Paula Yates in 2000, Tiger was adopted by Paula’s ex-husband Sir Bob Geldof, so that she could grow up with her maternal half-sisters.
“Lots of things happened after Bob adopted Tiger. There was a lot of animosity at the time between Rhett and Bob. The media attention didn’t help either, and in the end, the Geldofs cut off all ties,” says a close friend.
There was also tension between Rhett and his mother, Patricia Glossop. It’s believed the pair fell out after INXS frontman Michael’s death aged 37.
They eventually reconciled but when Patricia died in 2010, she only left Rhett 20 percent of her $2.6 million estate, claiming she’d “already provided for Rhett during his lifetime “. He tried contesting the will.
Tiger Lily didn’t attend her paternal grandmother’s funeral although Rhett said at the time that he had condolence messages from the Geldofs and he believed they were genuine.
He explained it was simply too hard to get Tiger there and the media would have gone crazy if she had turned up in Australia at that time.
“Maybe time, maturity, and a new baby might cause her to reconsider … it would be great for both of them if they could have a relationship after so many years,” says our source.
However, there might still be a ways to go. Our source says that Rhett would have only learned about Tiger’s pregnancy by reading about it in the news.
“Rhett’s in a good place,” says our source, who adds that he has also been working on his relationship with his US-based sister, Tina Hutchence.
“He’d be happy that Tiger Lily’s life is moving forward. There’s no animosity, just sadness that he’s lost touch with her and can’t be more involved with her life.
“Rhett would like to be closer to her but it’s been a long time since they’ve been in touch.”
