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.

Is it that black and white?

She was vivacious and smart, she did have a drug dependency at some point

she was all those things and I think that Vanessa Feltz got it right when she said that as a society but certainly in the media people dont know what to do with women who dont fall into one category or another. Except hate them and slag them off

She had a pretty abnormal and unpredictable childhood, they didnt really document any of that, she then got into the media and rock business fairly young, had a tumultuous relationship with Geldof and had the shock of her life about her father the same week her partner had killed himself

Not to mention being under seige most of the time in her own house. Im not surprised she ended up dead.

It's on Prime but you have to pay to buy or rent it.

www.amazon.co.uk/Mystify-Michael-Hutchence/dp/B082DRNVW2

I thought it was a very thoughtful documentary, although it glossed over her drug issues. I definitely have a more favourable impression of her now after watching the documentary. The poor woman , she was so talented and shone bright, disgraceful misogynistic treatment by the British media

The News of the World ran a story that Hughie Green was Paula Yates father 6 months before Michael Hutchence died. The DNA test did happen after he died however.

Hughie Green wrecked Jess Yates career by all accounts.

Whatever else Paula Yates had a chaotic difficult childhood. I'm sure it must have taken its toll on her and influenced her relationships.
We don't need to vilify or deify her.

Ideally we'd just make sure the media don't treat other women in the same way. (Even if we are lead to believe that they've signed up for the treatment by dint of being famous.)

And as she said she only went through with the DNA test because she didnt think for one minute it was true because her mother (and they didnt dwell on this bit of it) didnt tell her the truth. I find that incredible, her mum put her in that situation

There was a documentary about Hughie Green the other week as well and how the story came to light. Awful situation

That's interesting @Foggydog, because watching that documentary I thought how selfish and irresponsible she was. Her story is tragic, of course it is, four little girls lost their DM, but bloody hell who does heroin when they're home alone with their toddler???? Actually, who the fuck does heroin when they have four DC, one of whom has already lost one of her parents???

She was good at what she did, she was bright and witty and original, I get all that, but I thought she came across as extremely unlikeable and utterly selfish. All the stuff about how she was a great mum and Mary Poppins and bla bla bla and I was thinking, 'No she bloody wasn't'. She put her relationship with MH above parenting her three older DC and he was an erratic, druggy mess. I don't blame Bob Geldof one bit for blocking the DC going to Australia for Christmas - those DC needed one responsible parent and their DM sure as hell wasn't it.

Hughie Green wrecked Jess Yates career by all accounts.
**
I think that he was having an affair with an actress who was quite a bit younger than him.

So had quite a big part in ruining his own career.

Paula Yates was a real mix of rock chick and domestic goddess who clearly wanted to (but possibly not successful in doing) have a stable family life. She wrote books on parenting and seemed to be really keen to present herself as an earth mother, from what I recall of interviews with her.

She was clearly one of those super smart, sexy women that you had to have met in the flesh to be seduced by. I don't think photos do her justice or capture the true essence of her.

That she died with Tiger-Lily home alone with her, and on Pixie's (or possibly Peaches) birthday 'was a true sign that the drugs had taken her to a far-off, desperate place where she'd all but forgotten she was a loving, caring mother (and how much her girls needed her).

I think she and Michael Hutchence had an 'amour fou' fuelled to take them both to a very dark place by drugs.

I was never a fan of Paula Yates. I didn't 'get' her and if she came on TV, I switched away. Not in a deliberate, making-a-point sort of way - I just had zero interest. I didn't watch The Big Breakfast as it was all a bit too raucous for me first thing in the morning. I prefer to waken up gradually😅

Anyway, having said all that, I enjoyed the documentary and can see now what a lively and charismatic woman she was, intelligent, quick and funny. She was good at her job, which was to entertain and, really, her messy personal life and her flaws don't change that fact. I agree with pp's that the interviewees were strange choices, as if the documentary makers couldn't find anyone who knew her properly and was willing to talk.

I agree with all this. I was taken in by the earth mother stuff at the time. It just wasn’t true.

You're right, @Ishouldbeoutside , she certainly wasn't. They always had nannies and housekeepers.
The make up woman on the Big Breakfast wasn't allowed to bring her baby in like Paula did.

According to Wiki she would have been 17/18 when she first started seeing BG who is 8yrs older.

Yes, she went to see him at a gig and hooked up. She had no job and he got her a job on a music magazine.

She was pretty amazing imv- able as a woman to be witty, funny and suggestive all at once. I can’t think of any other female comedian/ interviewer at the time. Dawn F and Jen S were a bit later I think. There were other quirky progs - rough guide to the world. With magenta de vine, the buzzcocks started, euro trash.
I can’t imagine anyone taking baby rearing advice from her - but she was a self made icon.

She was a bit of a groupie, even when a married mum.

She had a huge crush on Hutchence for years, and supposedly told the INXS tour manager "I'm going to have that boy". And she did.

The article I linked to was by Catherine Mayer - one of her best friends - who said that she was glad to see that this documentary had people who genuinely knew her. I wouldn’t expect to see bob geldof or her daughters in it. Belinda Brewin was filmed with her constantly after Michael Hutchence died so was pretty much as close as it gets.

I don’t think she’s being deified, I think it’s more that it’s shocking that a woman who was evidently really talented at what she did was torn down by the press. Obviously taking heroin with her very young child was a terrible and stupid thing to do but she wasn’t a regular drug user - her autopsy showed that. And she’d been under attack from the press for years before that - the only thing she’d done ‘wrong’ at that point was leave her husband (who by all accounts also cheated on her) for another man, be unashamedly sexual and try to control her own narrative. Pure misogyny.

Absolutely but the suggestion is that Green leaked it to the media.

Yes I think so.

Of course it's the same old same old isn't it-if there's no dirt on you...

The reason she died was because she wasnt an addict in fact. Her body couldnt cope with the sudden injection.

What led her to do that, that night who knows, her life was getting back on track from her depression and grief etc. Terrible tragedy and of course her daughter went the same way. Sort of like the Whitney and Bobbi Brown thing

He had a journalist friend, Noel someone (that his wife called an honorable man) and at the funeral apparently he made reference to 'fireworks', then sold his story to the News of the World

Why he didnt just tell Paula Yates or her mother in the first instance only he would be able to answer, except he's dead. Dreadful behaviour

Although her mother should have told her

I think that's the trouble with some gateway drugs, they do lead to people trying the hard stuff.

Actually I think you're talking about something different!

I'm a similar age so was also a teenager during Paula's 'Tube' years.

The documentary described her as being the most photographed woman in the country, after the Princess of Wales. Is that really true? I remember her being famous of course but nowhere near Diana levels. Was she really that big a star?

I was really shocked watching this. Partly because it was seemingly acceptable to be so foul to a woman who'd done nothing to merit their opprobrium. But also because I thought at the time that Hislop was a reasonable kind of guy. I'm now wondering if that was because I was so brainwashed into thinking this kind of thing was okay.