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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:
Maireas · 16/03/2023 08:33

I think you're right, the little girl had spent time in the Geldof home and knew her sisters. That would already be a familiar environment for her.
I thought it was interesting that Paula got privacy, peace and quiet in Hastings and noted that if you want to be secret, you can.
The end of the film was puzzling because there appeared to be no reason for the heroin OD - they indicated that she was clean and happy.

MissBattleaxe · 16/03/2023 08:34

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

The person "ranting" was actually godmother to two of Paula's daughters and chose not to participate in the documentary which is why there are no shots of her with Paula.

Ishouldbeoutside · 16/03/2023 08:34

I didn't know about Claire King! So they were both having affairs.

MaireadMcSweeney · 16/03/2023 08:36

sydneysunset · 14/03/2023 04:57

Terence Trent D looks so much like Pixie, strange coincidence

Weird, the other gossip is that she looks like Michael H/Tigerlily
maybe this kind of gossip is unnecessary? Maybe it's true or maybe just nonsense but either way it's not edifying.

Nimblesandbimbles · 16/03/2023 08:45

Agree about a lot of previous comments, quite a one sided documentary but fascinating nonetheless.
Something random I’ve realised is that from certain angles Paula looks very similar to comedian Julia Davis (Nighty Night fame)!

Maireas · 16/03/2023 08:49

It was a shame that there were few contributions from people who really knew her. Grace Dent and Vanessa Feltz were just commentators really.
I would have liked to have heard from others.

MyopicBunny · 16/03/2023 09:01

It's true that Pixie does look like TTD but she was born in 1990 so that's probably after Paula's affair with him?

I imagine that her marriage to Geldof was likely for convenience and I doubt that he was faithful either.

I agree she wasn't much of a feminist in the true sense though. It's very unsettling that Peaches had the same misadventure leading to her own death. How much of that would have been due to her upbringing? Quite a lot I suspect.

Lalgarh · 16/03/2023 09:09

Ah. Belinda Brewin. Won a libel case against the sun in 2005

www.theguardian.com/media/2005/dec/21/pressandpublishing.sun

But is mentioned as the go between in being introduced to a family by drug dealers in this 2012 article

www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/woman-used-to-snare-murder-victim-6964629.html

Crazyshihtzulady · 16/03/2023 09:23

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.

Wow, tell us more please?

So many slebs are sainted the minute they die and they were actually vile people.

MyopicBunny · 16/03/2023 09:30

So many slebs are sainted the minute they die and they were actually vile people.

Yes, it's the Heathers effect.

maranella · 16/03/2023 10:51

MyopicBunny · 16/03/2023 09:30

So many slebs are sainted the minute they die and they were actually vile people.

Yes, it's the Heathers effect.

Yeah, it's very annoying. Paula wasn't sainted at all in life. She didn't deserve the horrible press coverage and being verbally attacked by the likes of Ian Hislop (what a nasty, spiteful man he can be), but as a PP pointed out, any normal person would've had SS all over them like a rash if drugs had been found in a tube of sweets in their home and quite rightly so. Yet Paula kept her kids and was about to fly them off to Australia for a holiday until Bob intervened. Slebs are held to completely different standards than anyone else. If a school gate mum had had multiple affairs, then seduced a rock star on live TV, hooked up with him in the green room and then dumped her DH and kids for him, however gorgeous and talented she was everyone would rightly judge her behaviour. But a sleb does it? Oh, it's 'love', they 'waited their whole lives to find each other'. Aye, right Hmm

pinkspaghetti · 16/03/2023 11:17

@Ishouldbeoutside yes it's true about Claire King (her autobiography is really interesting) and it actually went on whilst Paula was pregnant with one of their girls too.

Lalgarh · 16/03/2023 11:36

The thing about celebrity is the hangers on and grifters you acquire.

Brewin is very good at being exonerated at court, even when she was found with bags of cocaine in her car boot.

Not to mention the murdered family (3 generations, including a toddler) her supposed boyfriend killed and buried in her garden (or estate to hoi polloi like us)

www.waterstones.com/book/trouble-brewin/belinda-brewin/9781843581680

And Paula trusted her as her bestie? Man alive

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 16/03/2023 12:42

Lalgarh · 16/03/2023 11:36

The thing about celebrity is the hangers on and grifters you acquire.

Brewin is very good at being exonerated at court, even when she was found with bags of cocaine in her car boot.

Not to mention the murdered family (3 generations, including a toddler) her supposed boyfriend killed and buried in her garden (or estate to hoi polloi like us)

www.waterstones.com/book/trouble-brewin/belinda-brewin/9781843581680

And Paula trusted her as her bestie? Man alive

That doesn't surprise me at all. Birds of a feather and all that.

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 16/03/2023 13:02

I got a distinctly dodgy vibe from Belinda. She seemed very keen to state how friendly they were and how hard done by Paula was but her body/eye language to me seemed a bit off.

I think my auntie (ex model) and her DH (owned small advertising agency) lived in that area around the same time as Paula and Belinda but Paula and Belinda probably weren’t on her radar.

@Lalgarh, from my experience working with lawyers, Belinda no doubt used a very good defence lawyer/barrister to get her off.

Ishouldbeoutside · 16/03/2023 14:57

maranella · 16/03/2023 10:51

Yeah, it's very annoying. Paula wasn't sainted at all in life. She didn't deserve the horrible press coverage and being verbally attacked by the likes of Ian Hislop (what a nasty, spiteful man he can be), but as a PP pointed out, any normal person would've had SS all over them like a rash if drugs had been found in a tube of sweets in their home and quite rightly so. Yet Paula kept her kids and was about to fly them off to Australia for a holiday until Bob intervened. Slebs are held to completely different standards than anyone else. If a school gate mum had had multiple affairs, then seduced a rock star on live TV, hooked up with him in the green room and then dumped her DH and kids for him, however gorgeous and talented she was everyone would rightly judge her behaviour. But a sleb does it? Oh, it's 'love', they 'waited their whole lives to find each other'. Aye, right Hmm

Show quote history

My thoughts exactly.

Schmutter · 16/03/2023 15:28

I have now watched both episodes.

It was very one-sided. She was neither as famous nor lauded as it made her out to be. The only contributor who applied any balance whatsoever was Vanessa Feltz.

The HIGNFY clip was awful, but we haven’t made any progress. Ian Hislop’s comments really reminded me of those now directed at Meghan Markle.

MyopicBunny · 16/03/2023 18:12

Yes, it's the age old problem of misogyny when women don't do as they're told.

I also thought it was strange how she was compared to Princess Diana in terms of fame.

Schmutter · 16/03/2023 18:51

Yes, she was not even slightly close to Diana’s level of fame. I massively eye-rolled at that line. As if.

Ttwinkletoes · 16/03/2023 19:14

Diana said to her that when Paula’s on the front pages it gave her a break. Don’t think it was comparing famousness.

MyopicBunny · 16/03/2023 19:17

At the beginning of the programme they said only Diana was as famous.

sydneysunset · 16/03/2023 19:20

At the beginning of the programme they said only Diana was as famous

Yes they said that. I think during specific events, for example when she first left Bob and around the time Michael died, she was definitely in the papers as much as Diana. But not otherwise.

Allmyghosts · 16/03/2023 20:01

I read the book that was informed by the same woman the documentary was, I think anyway. I don't think either scratchd the surface of what was going on. The book mentioned that there were pornographic pics that Paula and Michael took kind of left around for anyone to access Confused.

I think she was very much in limerance with him, dickmatised if you will. I don't buy the Saint Bob shit for a second, he's always portrayed as a self sacrificing martyr and I don't buy it. I bet he is controlling as shit.

In a simulation where every eventuality played out, I would imagine there are very few where everyone lived happily ever after. Too many strong personalities and competing interests involved.

Maireas · 16/03/2023 20:07

I remember reading that when Oasis got big, she tried to get with Liam Gallagher, but was rebuffed. I think it was the same with Robbie Williams, but he was too kind to say.
She never seemed to grow out of the groupie stage.

Maireas · 16/03/2023 20:09

It's interesting that Geldof has been with his current wife for about 30 years. They seem quite low key, she must be quite private.