Page 3 | Paula - New series

WandaOff · 2023-03-12T18:01:30+00:00

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.

Puppylucky · 14/03/2023 22:35

OhMerde · 14/03/2023 22:24

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.

Show quote history

I think Grace Dent was bang on. The female columnists who ruled the roost in the 90's like Carole Malone and Jane thingy from Loose Women were utterly vicious about Paula before and after her death.

AlltheFs · 14/03/2023 22:43

My DH worked in TV production back then and worked directly with her. He found it a hard watch, brought back a lot of memories. He saw all the fallout when she left Bob and all that followed but he had a lot of love for her, he says everyone did whatever she did.

blankittyblank · 14/03/2023 22:45

sydneysunset · 14/03/2023 04:57

Terence Trent D looks so much like Pixie, strange coincidence

Oh my god, they do look alike!! They even have the same eyes. I used to wonder if she might have a different dad as she looks nothing like the rest of her family.

Nimblesandbimbles · 14/03/2023 22:50

Further to my earlier comment I think I used to judge Paula more harshly & the doc has opened my eyes a bit. That being said I think some of that judgement was fair enough- she & MH were pretty chaotic & much as she loved being a mother I’m not sure it was such a great experience being one of her children. She did make some pretty reckless decisions. I think the documentary was verging more on hagiography.

Dartmoorcheffy · 14/03/2023 23:02

Read the court transcripts. Bob was saying he was skint and Paula was bailing him out. Bob was no saint.

Ishouldbeoutside · 14/03/2023 23:08

I see Rupert Everett claimed he had a ten year affair with her. He’s gay!

Whooyou · 14/03/2023 23:14

nicetoseetgesunsout · 14/03/2023 15:52

She was beautiful and brilliant. She was my friend and my niece was friends with Peaches. I'll watch the doc tonight.

God you must miss her terribly 🥺 I had a proper girl crush on her in the day. Such a tragedy for everyone

PigeonPlayingChicken · 14/03/2023 23:20

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.

I agree. The deification of Paula Yates on here is pretty weird. She was a narcissistic drug addict who failed her children miserably. But yes she was vivacious and smart, so all is forgiven.

Schmutter · 14/03/2023 23:27

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.

I am in this camp, I'm afraid.

I am old enough to remember her and I certainly didn't think of her as some sort of trailblazer as she was depicted in this program. I think she did huge amounts of damage to many with her reckless and selfish behaviour whilst pretending she was some sort of earth mother. Her daughter Peaches did the same.

Embelline · 14/03/2023 23:37

I’m surprised at the love for her as a mother here as I was always shocked she took drugs around her children - wasn’t her youngest at home with her when she overdosed? She was four at the time?

professionally, I admired her as she was a wickedly good writer. Lots of talent there.

ThePoshUns · 15/03/2023 00:00

Her death was sad and she was interesting but I don't remember her being that interesting or cool at the time. The Big Breakfast was cringe and I always thought she was a desperate attention seeker.
I always though Pixie looked like Bob but now PP has pointed out she looks like TTD I think you could be on to something

Schmutter · 15/03/2023 00:11

I can remember at the time thinking she was really too old to be on the Big Breakfast - I looked it up yesterday and she was all of 33 when it started!

ThePoshUns · 15/03/2023 06:43

Yes but she was 10 years older than me at the time, so seemed past it!

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 15/03/2023 07:11

I’m 51 now so was a teenager when Paula was at the height of her fame. To be honest, she was shocking, glamourous and living a rock chick lifestyle but I certainly didn’t aspire to be like her nor look up to her. There’s no doubting her intelligence and she was treated awfully by the press especially after Michael’s death and the discovery of her real father, but as @Foggydog says I bet she was a complete nightmare to work with and she comes across as a man’s woman. In theory I’ve grown up in and around central London and probably saw her in Notting Hill, but she never registered on my radar.

Interesting what Robbie said re secret squirrel, she probably didn’t touch coke but certainly did everything but it. I’m sure she was a good mother but when she was with Michael she had addictions.

Saint Paula indeed.

dayswithaY · 15/03/2023 07:26

She used to live near my workplace in London. Every morning we saw her in the newsagents rifling through every paper in the shop looking for stories about her and Michael (pre internet). Then very ostentatiously holding up the newspaper to read it aloud.

Ishouldbeoutside · 15/03/2023 07:41

dayswithaY · 15/03/2023 07:26

She used to live near my workplace in London. Every morning we saw her in the newsagents rifling through every paper in the shop looking for stories about her and Michael (pre internet). Then very ostentatiously holding up the newspaper to read it aloud.

Whilst publicly bemoaning how harassed she was by the press. I think she was a very troubled woman really, despite the image she projected of being an Earth Mother with a perfect life whilst with Bob. She had at to least two affairs and once Michael came along she became drug and alcohol dependent .
Both her parents were neglectful and cruel and she didn’t have a happy childhood. I think she was desperately trying to create what she never had herself. I also think she had a craving for the attention that she never received as a child .

Michael gave her the intense attention and dependence she wanted so much. However it was a totally toxic relationship.

sydneysunset · 15/03/2023 07:47

Oh my god, they do look alike!! They even have the same eyes. I used to wonder if she might have a different dad as she looks nothing like the rest of her family

Yes, it's quite an uncanny likeness, especially the eyes.

I watched the Michael Hutchence doc (Mystify) recently & this was quite a good companion piece to it, presenting Paula's side. Mystify was quite dismissive of Paula - she barely featured until the end and came across quite badly in it. The doc also dwelled on the arguments between Paula and Michael and the fact that he was cheating on her with an American girl in London before he traveled to Sydney and died. The narrative seemed to be that Michael was very damaged after the accident and meeting Paula was the worst thing that could have happened - it basically led to his death.

In this context, it was good to be reminded of Paula's strengths and positive points. She was an inspiration to many girls and groundbreaking in her way, despite her faults.

I was surprised that they didn't interview her family or other high-profile people that knew her well, Grace Dent and Vanessa Feltz didn't really seem to know her, for example, so seemed like slightly odd choices.

sydneysunset · 15/03/2023 07:49

Michael gave her the intense attention and dependence she wanted so much. However it was a totally toxic relationship

Yes, the Paula doc seems to imply that Michael's death triggered her downfall, but it all started long before then. Michael was never going to be as committed to her as she wanted, I think it created this massive insecurity within her, and then the press attention pushed her over the edge

sweetcornfeta · 15/03/2023 08:01

Such a massive tragic story. Michael, Paula and Peaches

She seemed like a lovely person.

Her poor daughters. I hope they are happy and healthy

sweetcornfeta · 15/03/2023 08:05

There was a documentary about Hutchence a couple of years ago. Maybe Netflix?

Iirc, he suffered a life changing brain injury?

sweetcornfeta · 15/03/2023 08:06

@Foggydog

Interesting

sydneysunset · 15/03/2023 08:08

There was a documentary about Hutchence a couple of years ago. Maybe Netflix?

Yes, that was Mystify. The filmmaker was someone who had known Michael since the 80's.

sweetcornfeta · 15/03/2023 08:09

Thats right

He had a lot of mental health issues following being knocked over and suffering a head injury. His personality changed. Helena C gave an interview

Ishouldbeoutside · 15/03/2023 08:10

Also , trawling through footage on the internet I came across an article in which Paula proudly boasted that Michael choked her during sex. If this was yardstick of a healthy sex life, it’s disturbing.

SwedishEdith · 15/03/2023 08:18

sydneysunset · 15/03/2023 07:47

Oh my god, they do look alike!! They even have the same eyes. I used to wonder if she might have a different dad as she looks nothing like the rest of her family

Yes, it's quite an uncanny likeness, especially the eyes.

I watched the Michael Hutchence doc (Mystify) recently & this was quite a good companion piece to it, presenting Paula's side. Mystify was quite dismissive of Paula - she barely featured until the end and came across quite badly in it. The doc also dwelled on the arguments between Paula and Michael and the fact that he was cheating on her with an American girl in London before he traveled to Sydney and died. The narrative seemed to be that Michael was very damaged after the accident and meeting Paula was the worst thing that could have happened - it basically led to his death.

In this context, it was good to be reminded of Paula's strengths and positive points. She was an inspiration to many girls and groundbreaking in her way, despite her faults.

I was surprised that they didn't interview her family or other high-profile people that knew her well, Grace Dent and Vanessa Feltz didn't really seem to know her, for example, so seemed like slightly odd choices.

It was all based on Belinda Brewin's accounts really. I don't blame the family for wanting nothing to do with a film about her.

I think Pixie looks like Bob. Was looking at images of her as had lost track of what their kids look like and Pixie is really stylish.