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.

That too

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

I looked at the family on Wiki after the programme ended and was struck that Pixie was nothing like any of them. Then I read above and yes, she has his eyes...

Guess we will never know and don't need too, just explained the lack of likeness. Was she with T T D from early 1989?

Someone posted earlier in the thread that Pixie looks just like Bob's sister so you can stop making unfounded suggestions

Pretty much my thoughts too.

Yes, she had to deal with some horrible press and misogynistic attitudes, but that doesn't mean she was an admirable person.

She was extremely smug in promoting her 'perfect' life which of course we now know to be a fantasy. And as I said above, I see her as the ultimate man's woman. I think she was hungry for male approval and her whole identity centred around being attractive to men. She seemed desperate in particular to hold on to Michael Hutchence, whom she'd pursued for years, but I don't think either was built for stable long term relationships.

Just caught up on this. The HIGNY episode actually had me gasping it was so horrendous.

Can't believe all the adulation on here.

She was a druggie who abandoned her daughters to shag MH. And then overdosed whilst in sole charge of her toddler.

FFS.

Harsh!

@THisbackwithavengeance harsh but true!!

@SapatSea lol although to be fair I'd probably have abandoned my kids to shag Michael Hutchence too. He was a magnificent specimen of a man.

In your opinion.

Not mine.

I agree. It’s sad when anyone dies leaving young children. It leaves a constant unfillable hole. Having watched the documentary I’d forgotten how cringey her overtly sexual interview and presentation techniques were. I felt embarrassed for her. She came across as being immature and desperate to shock rather than talented. The whole taking drugs whilst your children are present is unforgivable. Those poor girls.

Agreed with you here re her coming across as immature and desperate to shock. Even as younger teenagers that was the impression me and my friends got off her.

I watched The Tube occasionally and Paula was a glam presenter but it all seemed a celeb lifestyle, marrying Bob Geldof, having children and continuing to work. The Big Breakfast interviews were cringey but I wasn’t really watching BB then, sometimes yes, but it wasn’t something I had to watch!

The interview with her mother which I’ve skim read wasn’t that surprising, a pity really because it explains a lot about Paula’s character.

Those interviews on the bed were a bit shocking, couldn't see them happening now. I didnt watch at the time but compared to dreadful bores like Holly Willougby she was a lot more lively and interesting.

She was hanging out with a 21 year old heroin addict that she met in The Priory on the day (night?) she died. Charlotte Korshak - apparently a society girl from Fulham - was seen a the off license in Paula’s neighbourhood several times that day - with Tiger Lily on her hip - buying half litre bottles of vodka. Paula used to pop into many shops near her St-Luke’s Mews home to buy half litres as it was less suspicious than buying one litre a day at the same shop.

When Belinda Brewin collected her daughter that day, Charlotte was hiding upstairs and she had no idea that a heroin addict had been in Paula’s house with her daughter. Miss Korshak was questioned but denied any knowledge of how Paula got heroin. No charges were ever brought and from a quick internet search, her name is only found in her rich grandparents obits.

The idea that she was on the mend, hadn’t done drugs in two years (they keep saying 2 years), is a complete fallacy. But four very young daughters deserved protecting and weaving the tale that she was grief stricken and making stupid mistakes is preferable.

I liked Paula. She was interesting and was self made. She didn’t sit at home like today’s wags and forged a career based on her wits and personality. But all she wanted was to be loved. She didn’t want to be loved by the sensible accountant who would be dependable. She wanted to be loved by the guy who filled stadiums and was the fantasy for thousands of women. She’s the queen of the pick me dance. Maybe not entirely for Bob but definitely with Hutchence. And that relationship is a whole other thread…

Where are you getting that information from then if her name cant be found except in limited information?

The coroner was the one who found that she wasnt a regular user and had been clean for a couple of 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 thought* *so . Maybe I noticed her at the time because I'd always read about her and wasn't remotely interested in Diana

I've just watched part 2.
Ive seen someone on Twitter ranting that they knew her better, yet Belinda Brewin was right by her side in all those pictures in the last years so it does feel like she was close.
Interesting the outrage that a woman who is a mother could behave so badly, I wonder if that would be the same if she was a man?
I stand by my original post, I'm still quite captivated by her. I'm interested in her as a person, not interested in judging her as a mother.

If she'd lived I wonder what she'd be doing now.

That’s interesting. It doesn’t really seem credible that she sat at home alone with a toddler and took heroin . I was wondering if someone was with her. There is also the question, did she die whilst that person was with her and that person just disappeared.

I find it utterly shocking that both Paula and Peaches thought it okay to do hard drugs whilst in sole charge of a young vulnerable child. It’s child abuse. Someone like that does not deserve to be put on pedestal, no matter how charismatic.

Interesting the outrage that a woman who is a mother could behave so badly, I wonder if that would be the same if she was a man?

If the man in question went out of his way to create an image of a perfect dad, and if he was in sole care of an infant while taking heroin, then yes I think it would.

I heard it was the other way round. Geldof was very strict and Paula was laid back, so they had a weird mix of permissive and Dickensian childhood. Dickensian was the word Peaches used in the interview.

And to be fair to Geldof, knowing about the drug taking and so on, I'd have been reluctant to let kids go to the other side of the world too.

Or indeed, bullshitted the public with their pretence of "attachment parenting" as both Paula and Peaches did. The apple doesn't fall far from the narcissistic tree.

I have always had mixed feelings about her but I'm fascinated too. Since it relied on her friends' input and memories I think it was quite a one sided and uncritical view of her life. I too heard stories of her not being so nice to other women. And of course there were some notable absences like Jools or Muriel Grey - it would've been nice to hear from.

I think the flirty shtick was a bit of a one dimensional skill - would it have worked as well if she wasn't so attractive? I was of course rapt at some of the interviews like with Terence TD and Michael Hutchence but some were cloyingly embarrassing. She was distinctive and different - good for her. But it created a bit of a female comic stereotype - focused purely on sex. And the groupie thing for famous men is - well (obviously) - shallow? A bit Patsy Kensit?

A dubious feminist icon - desperately dependent on famous men. I mean of course Hutchence was a beautiful man but was he a man to have your children around when he was so dependent on class A drugs? Clearly not.

The press intrusion and harassment was beyond awful - a torture familiar to Britney and Caroline Flack too.

And then that strange irony of a woman making a career out of writing about the joys of motherhood whilst still living a glamorous celeb life.... Like her daughter Peaches did too.

Maybe if she'd lived after Hutchence died she might have matured into a more multi-dimensional independent woman?

The Boomtown Rats didn't love her and she pursued him relentlessly famously giving him a blowjob in a car I think one of the first times she met him. I wasn't crazy about her writing. I'd check out the writing of Julie Burchill - that extraordinary complicated and not at all nice woman - if you want to see more interesting wordsmithing.

Yet despite all that she was iconic and fascinating and marked a moment in time - a revolution in TV, music and fashion. The Tube was a fundamental part of my trendy student life..... we watched it religiously.

I've always been interested in and curious about her. It makes you realise how little we really know of the real person underneath the public image. And how limited and limiting that image is. And I ended up watching the story of her daughter Peaches unfold along the very same lines to fame and death.

As a teenage girl i LOVED the red wedding dress and veil she married Geldof in.

I loved The Tube and I loved watching Paula on whatever show she was on - I was fascinated and enthralled with her during that period. She certainly did grab all the headlines and was constantly in the press - especially once she got with Hutchence (who was at his most gorgeous when she interviewed him on the bed).

Anyway I have a few random insights/observations which haven't been mentioned yet:-

Bob Geldof had an affair with Claire King of Emmerdale fame whilst he was with Paula. It's all in Claire's autobiography and on google. Interestingly, Claire also used to date Andrew Eldritch from the Sisters of Mercy in the early 80s.

There's an interesting clip on youtube where comedian Lucy Beaumont (wife of TV's Jon Richardson) appears on the Big Breakfast as a child (along with her mum) as a competition winner for designing a fountain for the Big Breakfast garden. Bizarrely, Lucy's mum Jo appears to be have a full-on girl crush on Paula and has styled herself exactly like her right down to her hair and headscarf. In another strange twist, Jo (Lucy's mum) actually drew the winning design for the fountain but made Lucy pretend she'd done it herself which echoes the episode of Only Fools and Horses where Del entered Rodney in a childrens' competition and Rodney won and had to pretend to be 15 and join the groovy gang 😂

Lastly much as I loved watching Paula and thought she was amazingly talented, I do suspect she was totally self obsessed and pretty selfish. I remember reading an interview with Jools Holland about their days together on The Tube and he said Paula would be there looking incredibly gorgeous and Muriel Gray would come in and take one look at her and say "Oh my god you look amazing and I look terrible" and instead of reassuring her Paula would confirm it by saying "Oh well, it doesn't matter" which Jools found highly amusing.

The thing I've always questioned is why custody of tiger lily was given to BG. Ok they were her sisters but that really shouldn't have swayed it. They could all visit. MH family wanted to raise her but she was sent to live with someone who was not related. Strange choice.

No its not unusual, this often happens in public proceedings and so not unusual in this set of circumstances in private proceedings too. A child who has been bought up with her sisters should remain with her sisters rather than be cared for by someone who is 'blood' family but who doesnt have a relationship with her or around her. I think jurisdiction would have come into that as well, she was a UK citizen.