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Paula - New series

382 replies

WandaOff · 12/03/2023 18:01

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.

OP posts:
AldiorLidl · 14/03/2023 20:40

WandaOff · 14/03/2023 15:20

There was so much more to her than superificial fluff . I used to read her columns in the 80s I think and her writing was sharp, intelligent and witty.
The horrendous treatment by the press was around the same time as Princess Di and reminded me of it at the time.

I agree, she was a fantastic writer.

IcedPurple · 14/03/2023 21:20

CoolShoeshine · 13/03/2023 22:48

i’m a bit younger than she was so have vague memories of her being Bob Geldof’s wife and then clearer memories of her being with Michael Hitchence who was a teen crush for me and my friends. At the time I thought wtf does he see in her!? But this programme shows how attractive and vivacious she was, and very bright and sparky, She was totally unique. I bet she’d have been cool now with some great opinions on current topics.

I remember all the articles asking how could he leave Helena Christensen for Paula. Paula may not have been a classic beauty like Helena, but she was incredibly sexy. I could definitely see what he saw in her. That said, even had he lived I don't think the relationship would have lasted. Neither was the type to be 'tied down'.

Foggydog · 14/03/2023 21:33

I worked with her. She was an absolute monster who didn't care who she hurt as long as she got what she wanted. She's the only person I've ever described as cruel.

SwedishEdith · 14/03/2023 21:35

That said, even had he lived I don't think the relationship would have lasted.

No. She seemed to have got stuck into that teenage love / obsession pattern. Intense and needing it to be intense to be meaningful.

jibbe · 14/03/2023 21:41

it doesn’t surprise me I think she strikes me as having a narcissistic personality but I am not doubting her talent one bit

IcedPurple · 14/03/2023 21:44

SwedishEdith · 14/03/2023 21:35

That said, even had he lived I don't think the relationship would have lasted.

No. She seemed to have got stuck into that teenage love / obsession pattern. Intense and needing it to be intense to be meaningful.

Yes, and Hutchence was hardly the type for a wholesome family life either.

Wasn't an ex girlfriend the last person who saw him alive?

Bob Geldof is a bit of a plonker in lots of ways, but I don't blame him at all for not letting Paula take his kids to the other side of the world to hang out with a drug addict.

IcedPurple · 14/03/2023 21:47

JenniferBooth · 14/03/2023 16:32

Watched this late last night. Im willing to bet that if she was still alive she would be one of the women campaigning for menopause rights.

I'm not sure.

I see her as very much a man's woman. I think being attractive to men was a core part of her identity. I think she would have had a hard time coping with getting older and I could see her having a ton of plastic surgery. Obviously we'll never know.

HermioneWeasley · 14/03/2023 21:52

She was a drug addict who left drugs lying around within reach of her kids. She was a wholly irresponsible parent. All her flirting and rolling around on the bed with people she was interviewing was completely cringe making. IIRC she introduced herself to Bob Geldof by performing oral sex on him. I grew up near her and she was notoriously rude, not remotely surprised to hear @Foggydog ’s recollection.

I have no idea why there is this attempt to sanitise her decades after her death (from a heroin overdose). I’m sure she was complex, etc etc but she was hardly a role model or someone to aspire to. More a cautionary tale.

JenniferBooth · 14/03/2023 21:54

I see what you mean @IcedPurple Getting older is something Katie Price seems to be struggling with.

Eyesopenwideawake · 14/03/2023 22:02

Like Diana, another "icon" who could never live up to her public perception. I wonder how they would be now if they'd lived?

Fizbosshoes · 14/03/2023 22:10

I watched it and found it interesting.
The harassment and reporting outside the house immediately after Michael died, was horrendous. I don't really remember giving it much thought at the time.
And I had a vague memory of the Hughie Green story but hadn't realised how soon after Michael's death it was. How did the story unfold? Who first spoke to the press about it?
I feel incredibly sad for all her girls and it must have been unbearable for them to lose their sister in a similar way

lollipoprainbow · 14/03/2023 22:17

Grace Dent seems to hero worship her.

IcedPurple · 14/03/2023 22:21

So she had a year long affair with Terence Trent D'Arby while married to Bob?

Was Bob putting it about too? Somehow I don't picture him chastely waiting for Paula to come home to him.

Dartmoorcheffy · 14/03/2023 22:23

She was my girl crush. I always liked her. She was intelligent, vivacious and funny. I would have loved to have been her friend.

OhMerde · 14/03/2023 22:24

lollipoprainbow · 14/03/2023 22:17

Grace Dent seems to hero worship her.

Grace Dent pissed me right off with her comment about how women love to knock other women down. Truly not in my experience at all. Plus, the vast majority of journalists at the time who relentlessly hounded women were men.

Ishouldbeoutside · 14/03/2023 22:24

Princecharlesfirstwife · 14/03/2023 14:03

It’s a fascinating documentary on many levels. I do wonder why she thought she’d be able to whip the children she had with BG off to live with MH in Australia though without BG putting up a fight.

Bob was right to try and protect their children.
Paula may have felt that MH was the love of her life but she totally unravelled once she became involved with him. From a devoted mother she became a drinker and and someone who took drugs with her kids in the same house . She didn’t even drink before she met him. The two of them were out of control .
I thought she was charismatic and unique in her younger years. Once with she lost her spark and looked tired and ill.

Eyesopenwideawake · 14/03/2023 22:26

Once with she lost her spark and looked tired and ill.

Oh, so it's OK that she died then? FFS.

IcedPurple · 14/03/2023 22:28

Ishouldbeoutside · 14/03/2023 22:24

Bob was right to try and protect their children.
Paula may have felt that MH was the love of her life but she totally unravelled once she became involved with him. From a devoted mother she became a drinker and and someone who took drugs with her kids in the same house . She didn’t even drink before she met him. The two of them were out of control .
I thought she was charismatic and unique in her younger years. Once with she lost her spark and looked tired and ill.

Show quote history

I'm not at all convinced that Paula was completely clean and wholesome before she met Michael. It would have been extremely rare for someone having out with rock stars in that era. The 'outrageous rock chick who is also a devoted earth mother' was her public image, but I don't believe it was the reality.

Ishouldbeoutside · 14/03/2023 22:28

Foggydog · 14/03/2023 21:33

I worked with her. She was an absolute monster who didn't care who she hurt as long as she got what she wanted. She's the only person I've ever described as cruel.

That’s interesting. She didn’t seem to give a thought to how Bob felt when she left him so abruptly . He was in bits for a long time afterwards. Not to mention the effect on her children. Hughie Green was not a nice man either:

PermanentTemporary · 14/03/2023 22:28

I used to love her column - wasn't it in Honey not Cosmo? I used to count down the days to Honey coming out and was bereft when it went bust. But even then I knew that she would never so much as have looked at me, I wouldn't have existed for her or people like her. That was ok with me tbh.

Ishouldbeoutside · 14/03/2023 22:28

Eyesopenwideawake · 14/03/2023 22:26

Once with she lost her spark and looked tired and ill.

Oh, so it's OK that she died then? FFS.

No of course not. I didn’t say that did I?

Courgeon · 14/03/2023 22:29

jibbe · 14/03/2023 21:41

it doesn’t surprise me I think she strikes me as having a narcissistic personality but I am not doubting her talent one bit

I get this impression too. I think she was a charming seductive person to both men and women who could make you feel like you were the only person in the room but there was something a little jarring and disingenuous about her. I also think there was a fair bit of press manipulation and Michael was becoming increasingly ambivalent about being with her.

I'm sorry but the bed interviews look awkward and cringe for all concerned, not natural and spontaneous at all.

IcedPurple · 14/03/2023 22:31

I also think there was a fair bit of press manipulation and Michael was becoming increasingly ambivalent about being with her.

I agree. Like I said above, supposedly the last person who saw him alive was an 'ex' girlfriend. I think she was trying to tie him down but we know that never works.

Foggydog · 14/03/2023 22:33

She had multiple affairs, none of it secret (but much of it pre-internet, so left to those old enough to remember to recall). The suggestion that Hughie Green was her biological father happened months before Michael Hutchene died, during and after Hughie Green's funeral, the DNA test and results happened after Michael Hutchene died with her full co-operation.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 14/03/2023 22:35

IcedPurple · 14/03/2023 22:28

I'm not at all convinced that Paula was completely clean and wholesome before she met Michael. It would have been extremely rare for someone having out with rock stars in that era. The 'outrageous rock chick who is also a devoted earth mother' was her public image, but I don't believe it was the reality.

Show quote history

Of course she wasn't! As Robbie said, Secret Squirrel.