Paula - New series

[WandaOff]

Channel 4 this week, documentary about Paula Yates.
She was the same age as me and I followed her career from the beginning. Had a bit of a girl crush on her and was genuinely sad when she died.

I'm reading Gerry's book. Paula wasn't a good person, I don't think tbh. Gerry describes her lack of empathy and even lies she made up.

The Gerry Agar book is unadulterated bollocks. Every reliable source says she did not know Paula well.

What we do know for certain is that by her own admission she orchestrated the police raid on Paula’s home where the opium was found, she said because she and the nanny, Anita, searched the home and alerted the police to what they found.

The case did not proceed and the Crown Prosecution Service said the police had been ‘manipulated’. Minimum Agar took drugs from elsewhere in the home and put them in a Smartie tube along with photographs and other things dangerous for children to see/encounter/consume in a place they could easily find them. Worst case she brought the drugs and planted them.

The case wasn’t dropped until after Michael died and their friends believe had that happened earlier he may not have died at all.

Agar’s motive seems to have been to make money selling stories on the raid and she convinced Anita, the Nanny, it needed to be be done for the children’s safety. Possibly because Anita didn’t know they’d been planted she went along with it.

To this day Agar makes money selling stories on the Geldofs who she hasn’t known at all for decades. That book needs treating with a massive pinch of salt.

Which reliable sources say she didn't know Paula well?

Jo Fairley, Catherine Mayer, Chris Mould, Andy Gill, Craig Sam. All genuine, provable long-term friends who have never cashed in on Paula or said things that have later been proven dubious. They all say she was a Mum Paula knew vaguely who briefly attempted to deepen their relationship and obtain work for Paula but was told to back off.

Interesting blog on it here. ainhoaaristizabal.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/httpwp-mep2sum5-45y-2/

I can't see how someone would be able to write a book with such intimate details without being sued if it was all fabricated.

Everyone has their own agendas and the truth is likely to be midway somewhere.

I'm being a bit thick here, but what do you mean?

Bono, in his memoir, discussed Paula and Michael and how their friendship became strained because of the couples drug use, he also says he and his wife Ali turned down being godparents to Tiger Lily because of the drug use which pretty much put an end to their friendship. He does say they later regretted that decision. He talks about how their lifestyle was difficult for everyone around them especially Paula's children. Hard to know what would have become of them if they never got together because they don't seem to have been good for each other.

I'm watching this now.

I'm early 50s, and remember her as a very irritating person, who thought she was more interesting than actually was. Attention seeking and just too much.

Did Paula really send barbecue ashes instead of some of Michaels to his family in Australia? That is really horrible if true.

I'm mid-50s, used to watch The Tube, Big Breakfast etc. I just watched the program and was a bit bemused by the insistence that she was a role model and trailblazer. I quite liked her style of dress and hair but mainly just thought of her as Geldof's wife who had an irritating mannered way of presenting. I never read her writing so will take other PP's word that it was decent. She was certainly articulate.

She was famous yes, for Geldof, the names she gave her kids, her personal style (red wedding dress), unusual family background, and later notoriety. Not sure any of that is particularly laudable or role-model worthy.

Yes, Paula's look was very avant-garde in the 80s, but I always found her manner weirdly old-fashioned, her way of speaking seemed dated somehow

I'm a similar age and I agree, my memories are the same. She certainly wasn't seen as a trailblazer at the time, and comparing her with Princess Diana seems bizarre, because at the time they weren't even in the same ballpark when it came to media attention.

Agree with you.

I agree with whoever it was who said that she seemed to have quite a bad case of limerence. I can't really imagine that Michael Hutchence would have been a stabilising influence for anyone. Wasn't he incapable of being monogamous? I feel like Paula acted like she was happy to be with someone like this but not many people truly feel happy in that situation. I'm sure he was very good in bed and charismatic etc but he sustained quite a bad head injury whilst he was with Helena Christensen and apparently nobody realised how bad it had been. It had affected his frontal lobe too.

I did read that at the time of his death he had already moved on with a new woman and was about to embark on a world tour which would have kept him apart from Paula for months. I think there was a bit of smoke and mirrors from Paula about their relationship and Michael probably felt conflicted because he loved Tiger.

Lets face it, if Michael hadn’t died the relationship would have ended anyway. Whether or not Paula would have accepted this is another matter.

That's what was written in the open letter Dear Paula by Catherine Mayer so seemingly true. It is horrifically cruel and not sure how anyone could relay that anecdote as a positive memory.

The barbecue ashes thing is practically the work of a psychopath, unbelievably cruel.

How awful :( no wonder Michael's family are negative about Paula.

What people seem to say about her is that she lacked empathy and told lies. People like that hurt everyone around them.

And it's not surprising that she was like that when you consider that her parents were not nurturing - he dad used to keep her in a box and her mum was absent. Although her mum has disputed her version of events.

The thing the doc didn’t really cover was that by the ‘on the bed with Paula’ days she was basically over as a big TV personality. Geldof was part owner of the production company that made Big Breakfast and her bed segment was mainly because she was the boss’s wife and was generally tedious. It was only when she got together with MH and did the dirty on Saint Bob that the media interest went into overdrive. it was appalling how she was treated, but it was the men in the story who were the real interest for the red tops.

I used to used to see them when she was first with MH and they rented a flat in Mayfair. She used to walk around being deliberately ‘look at me’ in a Little Miss Trouble t shirt and pigtails, and bend over outside cafes showing her arse in tiny skirts. What came later was awful but she definitely courted attention as part of the war with Geldof.

It was only when she got together with MH and did the dirty on Saint Bob that the media interest went into overdrive. it was appalling how she was treated, but it was the men in the story who were the real interest for the red tops.

Yes, and while agreeing that she was the victim of misogyny in the press, she only had the career she had because she was a woman. She may have been a decent writer but potentially so could lots of people if they were famous enough to get publishing deals. And her fame was based on being flirty, wearing quirky fashions and being with high profile men. No way a man could have had her 'Big Breakfast' gig, flirting with interviewees while lying on a bed.

She used to walk around being deliberately ‘look at me’ in a Little Miss Trouble t shirt and pigtails, and bend over outside cafes showing her arse in tiny skirts. What came later was awful but she definitely courted attention

I remember a photo of her carrying a stark naked Tiger in the street, with, I think, that Belinda person who was interviewed in the documentary. Yes, I know Tiger was only a baby, but who goes out in public with a naked baby, especially when you know there's a good chance the photo will end up published in a national newspaper?

I also seem to remember her dating at least one younger guy she met in rehab. It’s all a bit hazy though.

Her standards must have been slipping. Previously she wouldn't have gone near a guy unless he had had at least one top 10 hit and had millions of women lusting over him.

The thing the doc didn’t really cover was that by the ‘on the bed with Paula’ days she was basically over as a big TV personality. Geldof was part owner of the production company that made Big Breakfast and her bed segment was mainly because she was the boss’s wife and was generally tedious.

I think maybe that’s why at the time I remember thinking of her as being far too old to be on the Big Breakfast. She just wasn’t the cool or hip person the documentary portrayed her to be at this stage. I can remember thinking her bits were cringe inducing.

Michael probably felt conflicted because he loved Tiger.
I very much doubt Michael gave a rats about Tiger, or indeed anyone besides Michael.

@QueefofSheena you are right. Paula met Finley Quayle in The Priory. He had some hits and won a Brit in the late 1990's and was slated to be the next big thing at one time, rather like her earlier lover, Terence Trent D'Arby. I think they dated for a few months and the press loved being aghast at the two addicts.

I'm pretty sure Geldof admitted after her death that they had always had an open marriage but I guess he was able to keep his affairs private whilst Paula's always seemed to end up in the papers. Paula had a pretty messed up childhood. She claimed she smoked heroin when she was 12, had sex at 14, appeared naked in Penthouse at 19 and her parents both sound awful.

She was "Nepo baby"- her dad was Jess Yates who in the 1970's had a very popular Sunday night ITV show called "Stars on Sunday" watched by millions, where Christian celebs came on to sing with Jess at his organ (in front of a stained glass window) or give readings and chat. It was de rigeur viewing for my Granny. Jess was nicknamed "The Bishop" and he often spoke about Paula, his worry about her asthma or how she had had got all A's in her O levels years early. A standard I was reminded I had not reached on several occasions. Her mother was much younger than Jess Yates, an actress and sounds totally crazy in this interview:
www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/aug/06/features.review7.
Jess Yates was sacked after being caught by the papers with a 16 year old. He sounds like an awful man in the interview above ( drugged his guests tea). No wonder Paula was crazy and mixed up - all very sad.