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b.
Paula Yates 24 April 1960, Colwyn Bay, Clwyd, Wales.
d. 17 September 2000, Notting Hill, London, England. |
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Paula Yates was a British
television presenter. Paula posed naked for Penthouse in 1978, and
then became a music journalist, writing a column called "Natural
Blonde" in the Record Mirror. When she first came to prominence in
the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4
pop music programme The Tube. She was better known as the daughter
of former Stars on Sunday TV presenter Jess Yates, and Elaine, an
actress with the stage name Heller
Toren. Jess Yates had been sacked from his job presenting
religious programmes because of scandalous newspaper stories about
his private life. Paula attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol
Aberconwy. The Yateses ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time,
before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up
of her parents' marriage, Paula lived in Majorca for a time,
before returning to Britain and, after being the ultimate party
girl, landing a job as presenter of the music show, The Tube, with
Jools Holland. Paula is probably most famous for her marriage to
rock singer and Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof, (with whom she
lived for some years before their marriage in 1986) and for the
eccentric names they gave their three daughters: Fifi Trixibelle,
Peaches Honeyblossom and Pixie. She was also one of the presenters
on The Big Breakfast, which was produced by Geldof.
It all began to unravel, however, when Paula famously interviewed
INXS singer
Michael Hutchence
in her Big Breakfast boudoir,
and fell head over heels in love with him. In 1995, Yates left
Geldof for Hutchence, with whom she had another daughter, Heavenly
Hiraani Tiger Lily, known as Tiger Lily, before Michael's death in
1997. In 1997, Hutchence was found hanged in a hotel room in
Sydney, and Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the
coroner's verdict of suicide. She eventually sought psychiatric
treatment. She never really recovered from losing him. Meanwhile,
there was a question over the custody of her youngest daughter,
Tiger Lily. Moreover, further media allegations were made
suggesting that Jess Yates had not been Paula's natural father. A
paternity test proved that the late quiz show host Hughie Green
had in fact been her natural father, not Jess Yates. Shortly after
this announcement, Paula Yates was found dead, at the age of 40,
of an apparent heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not
a suicide, but a result of 'foolish and incautious' behaviour.

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