Rock Stars in Their Underpants

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If Yates’s on-screen persona was as a largely unserious provocateur, the real Paula was deeply sincere, even shy, says Brewin, who characterises her as a mixture of Mary Poppins and Marilyn Monroe. The Poppins side of Yates was capable of being scandalised when others took her on-screen image as a green light for saying whatever they wanted to her. She had an in-depth knowledge about everything,” Brewin tells The Telegraph on a video call from Florida, where she is working as head chef on a yacht. “It didn’t matter what you were talking about, she knew it. She read voraciously. But then we’d sit in bed sometimes and watch [US talk show] Jerry Springer when it first came out and laugh at everyone else’s soap opera of a life. Until hers turned into one.” The saving of Geldof's soul". The Independent. Ireland. 4 March 2013. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018 . Retrieved 8 April 2018.

Whilst married to Geldof, Yates had a year-long affair with American singer Terence Trent D'Arby. [13] [14] She had a six-year long affair with actor Rupert Everett. [15] [16] She also had an affair with Michael Hutchence of INXS, which finally led to the divorce between Paula and Bob. On 17 September 2000, on Pixie's 10th birthday, Yates died at her home in Notting Hill at the age of 41 of a heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour. [28] [29] Yates was discovered in the presence of her then-four-year-old daughter, Tiger Lily. [30] A friend disclosed during the inquest that Yates had not taken illegal drugs for nearly two years, [31] and the coroner, Paul Knapman, concluded that although the amount Yates had taken would not have killed an addict, "an unsophisticated taker of heroin" like Yates had no tolerance to the drug. [32] She hopes that future generations will remember Yates not for how she died but for how she lived; for being “hilarious, sexy, cheeky and chatty”. Yates was, she says, a proper trailblazer. “She paved the way for half these girls today who probably don’t even know who she is.” Branigan, Tania (9 November 2000). "TV star killed by heroin 'binge' ". The Guardian . Retrieved 19 January 2023. Later that year, while Yates and Hutchence were in Australia, the children's nannie found opium in a Smarties tube in their home. The couple claim the drugs were planted and Yates was arrested but not charged, but the incident allowed Geldof to return to court and win temporary custody of the children.

Williams, Zoe (15 March 2023). "It's a good time to think again about Paula Yates. She was the other Diana: hounded by the press for being herself". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 March 2023.

However, it was as co-host, with Jools Holland, of Channel 4's groundbreaking music show The Tube, in 1982 that Yates made her name. In a review for Paula, Lucy Mangan, writing for The Guardian, hailed the documentary as "a glorious celebration of the most witty, flirty woman to ever grace our TVs" and gave the show 4/5 stars. [42] [43] Carol Midgeley, writing for The Times, also gave the documentary 4/5 stars, opining that Yates was a "fizzling force of nature". [44] Gerard Gilbert, writing for the newspaper I, rated the documentary 3/5 stars, adding that he "was left with a tragic sense that Yates’s untimely death robbed us of an intriguing second act". [45] Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuthEach day she would say to me, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get through this day,’ says Brewin. “But she did, and she said, ‘I have to for my children, I couldn’t bear to be without them.’ There was never any question she was going to keep putting one foot in front of the other. She loved those girls so much. She didn’t want her loneliness to affect them.” These things are not even easy to deal with in private, so having to go through something like that in the public eye would be more traumatic. Whether she was a stable person or not, I can't say. But I suspect she was not.'' Mangan, Lucy (13 March 2023). "Paula review – a glorious celebration of the most witty, flirty woman to ever grace our TVs". The Guardian . Retrieved 14 March 2023.