Content Warning: This article touches on the topic of suicide which may be triggering for some readers. If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit their website here.
It’s been almost 30 years since Australian rockstar and icon, Michael Hutchence passed away. However, his legacy lives on through both the music he created and his daughter – Tiger Lily.
Born to Michael and his partner, Paula Yates, in July 1996, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence would go on to face more than one tragedy during her life.
Sadly, Michael was found dead, having reportedly taken his own life, when his baby girl was just a little over a year old.
The death of the INXS front man had a devastating effect on his partner, and Tiger Lily’s mother, Paula, who began to spiral in the wake of it.
Just three years later, she was found dead from a heroin overdose in her Notting Hill home, while four-year-old Tiger Lily played in the house alone.
Although the death of both her parents might have set Tiger Lily up for a difficult childhood and life ahead, she was instead taken in by Paula’s ex-husband, formidable music-industry figure Bob Geldof.
The frontman for the Boomtown Rats, who had also created the charity supergroup Band-Aid, became the legal guardian Tiger Lily and went on to formally adopt her in 2007.
This meant that Tiger Lily could grow up outside of the spotlight, and have close relationships with her three half-sisters: Paula’s daughters Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches, and Pixie Geldof.
Here, we’re taking a look back at Tiger Lily’s 29 years, and how she was influenced by the relationships she had with her siblings.
Fifi Trixibelle Geldof
The eldest of Bob and Paula’s children, Fifi was 17 when her mother passed away and Tiger Lily came to live with her and her sisters.
Following the death of her mother, Fifi spiraled into a period of depression, which she has been open about in the press.
“It’s the silent killer. People don’t really talk about it,” she told The Mail on Sunday.
“Everyone has the ability to kill themselves. Anything can happen to you, it just takes one instance to flip you into the wrong state of mind.
“I have thought about but never attempted suicide. I wouldn’t. I’m aware, even in the pit of my depression, there are people that would hurt,” she admitted.
“And quite frankly, there’s been enough death in our family. It’s not something I would do to them.”
Fifi married her partner, Andrew Robertson, in 2016 in a ceremony attended by her sisters.
It took place at St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence Church in Kent, in the UK, which holds great significance for the family: it is the burial site of both Paula Yates and Fifi’s sister, Peaches, who tragically died in 2014 the same way her mother did – a heroin overdose.
These days, Fifi continues to keep a low profile, and apparently rather likes being referred to as “the unknown Geldof”.
Her private Instagram account lists her as an “enthusiast of all animals, tattoos, good food, offensive humour, makeup, and Disney”.
Peaches Geldof
Paula’s second daughter, Peaches, was born in 1989, making her seven years older than Tiger Lily.
She was a model, TV personality, and columnist in her adult life, but just like Tiger Lily, had a lot to face as a child. Speaking to Elle in 2013, she shared what it was like to lose her mum at age 11.
“I remember the day my mother died, and it’s still hard to talk about it. I just blocked it out. I went to school the next day because my father’s mentality was ‘keep calm and carry on’,” she revealed.
“So, we all went to school and tried to act as if nothing had happened. But it had happened. I didn’t grieve. I didn’t cry at her funeral. I couldn’t express anything because I was just numb to it all. I didn’t start grieving for my mother properly until I was maybe 16.”
Peaches went on to find love with Thomas Cohen, the lead singer of the London band S.C.U.M. The pair tied the knot in 2012 one year after meeting, and would go on to have two sons, Phaedra and Astala.
Sadly though, Peaches died of a heroin overdose in her home in the UK on April 7, 2014.
“We are beyond pain. She was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest, and the most bonkers of all of us. We loved her and will cherish her forever,” read the statement given by Bob in the wake of her death.
Her husband, Thomas, also gave a statement: “My beloved wife Peaches was adored by myself and her two sons Astala and Phaedra and I shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts every day.”
Pixie Geldof
Born in 1990, Pixie is the sister closest to Tiger Lily in age. A singer and a model, Pixie’s world was equally rocked by the loss of her mother and her sister.
In the wake of Peaches’ death, Pixie wrote music to help with the pain and eventually released her first solo album, I’m Yours, in 2016.
“It’s beautiful that someone can live a life so short and yet make such an impact,” she told The Guardian of her sister.
“Things stop for a second with people like her. She changed worlds, both when she was alive and when she wasn’t.”
“I am … okay,” she went on to say in the same interview.
“There’s no recovery from it. There’s no therapy for it. I mean, there’s no one day when it won’t be bad.
“I have a very lovely life. Except there will always be something missing.”
Pixie has been married to her husband, George Barnett since 2017. They have also since had a baby together, born in 2021.
However, they’re dedicated to keeping their little one out of the spotlight, and their name has not been revealed publicly.
A sisterly bond with Tiger Lily
Although very close with her sisters, Tiger Lily has spent much of the last few years living abroad having graduated from university in 2019.
She reportedly lived in Western Australia for a lengthy period of time while she was dating Aussie musician Nick Allbrook, but from mid-late 2023 it is believed that she moved back to the UK where she began dating British artist and model Ben Archer.
New Idea exclusively revealed in February that they are expecting their first child together.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit their website here.
