When Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates’ daughter was named Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily and orphaned at the age of four, grave concerns were held for the daughter of these famous and troubled stars.
Her father’s family wanted her to live in Australia with them, but Tiger Lily was instead adopted by the father of her three half-sisters and Yates’ ex-husband, Sir Bob Geldof.
In an interview at the time of the custody request Hutchence’s mother Patricia Glassop said: “I think he (Geldof) is Satan. I think he is cruel, very cruel to keep her from her family. I am not allowed to speak to her on the phone. He’s even changed the phone number.”
But hindsight has shown that Geldof, who Tiger Lily calls ‘Dad’, managed to calm those initial tumultuous years and raise a healthy and self-assured young woman, guiding her to live a relatively normal life.
Against the odds, he managed to keep his adopted daughter out of the media spotlight, however this reportedly meant that Tiger Lily did not attend her grandmother Glassop’s funeral in 2010.
Tiger Lily, now 17 years old, attends a private school in south London close to her home in Battersea where she lives with Geldof and his partner of 16 years, French actress Jeanne Marine. She reportedly has very close relationships with Jeanne and her three older sisters.
In an interview with New Idea magazine, the INXS star’s brother and uncle to Tiger Lily, Rhett Hutchence, revealed that she is quietly pursuing her dreams of acting and performance and plans to study acting in New York when she finishes school.
“She’s extremely beautiful and stylish, charming to be around, and she’s very much into music and acting, just like her dad.”
Photos of Tiger Lily reveal a beautiful young woman with her father’s features and charisma.
The telemovie INXS: Never Tear Us Apart portrayed Hutchence and Yates’ tragic love affair with a baby Tiger Lily at the centre.
Hutchence’s last night was dramatised in the film with a night of drinking, taking cocaine, phone calls with Yates and Geldof about Tiger Lily’s custody and looking at photos of Paula and Tiger before tragically taking his own life the next morning.
Michael Hutchence, Paula Yates holding Tiger Lily and Fifi Trixibelle Geldof in 1996, the year Tiger was born. Photo: WireImage
Left, Paula Yates carrying their daughter into Michael Hutchence’s funeral on 27 November 1997. Right, in London in 1999. Photos: AFP/Getty Images
Yates, Tiger Lily and Pixie Geldof in the early 2000s. Photo: FilmMagic
At movie premieres in London in 2003. Photos: Getty Images
Bob Geldof’s daughters Fifi Trixiebell, Pixie and Peaches with Tiger Lily in 2004. Photo: Getty Images
The sisters attending ‘Ducktastic’ in 2005. Photo: Getty Images
Bob Geldof with his adopted daughter in 2005. Photo: Getty Images
The Geldof family in Dublin in 2006 as he receives the ‘freedom of the city’ honour. Photo: Getty Images
Tiger Lily and Geldof’s partner Jeanne Marine. Photo: Getty Images
Bob Geldof and Tiger Lily in 2008. Photo: Getty Images
Spotted in 2008. Photo: FilmMagic
At Naomi Campbell’s Fashion For Relief Haiti London London Show in 2010. Photo: FFR/Getty Images
Bob Geldof, Jeanne Marine and Tiger Lily. Photo: FFR/Getty Images
Tiger Lily Hutchence. Photo: Instagram
Tiger Lily Hutchence. Photo: Instagram
Tiger Lily at Peaches’ wedding in 2012. Photo: YouTube
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