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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Mia O'Hare

Paula Yates predicted death of lover INXS star Michael Hutchence in harrowing footage

A harrowing moment has shown Paula Yates predicting the death of her musician lover Michael Hutchence following a custody court battle with Bob Geldof.

The late British TV host had to delay her return to Australia to see INXS star Hutchence due to a custody battle with Geldof over their three children.

When leaving the court, Yates commented to her barrister: "This will kill Michael."

The archive footage was shown in the new Channel 4 documentary, Paula.

Lead singer Hutchence died aged 37 after he was found hanged in a hotel room in Sydney on November 22, 1997.

Yates had three children with Irish singer Bob Geldof, Fifi in 1983, Peaches in 1989 and Pixie in 1990.

Bob Geldof and wife Paula Yates in 1994 (Getty Images)
Paula Yates presented The Tube and The Big Breakfast (Neil Munns/PA Wire)

The Tube and The Big Breakfast host died in the year 2000 following a heroin overdose.

In 1994, Yates began an affair with Australian singer Hutchence following an interview on the Big Breakfast show.

Viewers clocked their bubbling sexually chemistry on the Channel 4 show with a lusty Paula opening with a gag about Michael's 'tackle troubling trousers.'

Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates met on The Big Breakfast (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Paula with her daughter Pixie Geldof in 1991. (Getty Images)

The duo continued to flirt wildly with one another with Paula giggling uncontrollably as Michael gazed into her eyes, with their legs entwined on a bed.

The presenter left Boomtown Rats front man Geldof the following year and went on to have daughter Tiger Lily with Hutchence in 1996.

Geldof gained custody of Peaches and Pixie after drugs were found at Yates and Hutchence's London home.

Bob and Paula had three children together (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Paula holding her daughter Tiger Lily and with daughter Pixie Geldof (Getty Images)

Yates returned to the UK from Australia, having left Tiger Lily with Hutchence in the hopes of going back with her other daughters.

The Channel 4 documentary revealed Geldof decided not to let the children go to Australia.

Their trip had to be cancelled when a court hearing was adjourned.

Hutchence was found dead just 14 months after the birth of Tiger Lily.

The flirtatious first meeting between Michael and Paula (ITN SOURCE / Channel 4 / PA)

A devastated Paula refused to accept the coroner's verdict that Michael's death had been suicide.

She said: "I won't have my child grow up thinking that her father left her. He would not have left our baby, he loved her too much."

The programme also included a previously unheard interview Yates gave to OK! magazine just months before her death.

Yates said: "Bob decided against letting the girls go to Australia and so we had to go back into court, and then I couldn't get to Australia unless I left my girls behind.

Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence on The Big Breakfast (Channel 4)

"Michael hated to be away from us. Absolutely. Found it almost unbearable. And I think it was a crushing disappointment when I rang him and told him.

"And it's funny because I left the court, and I turned to my barrister and I said: 'This will kill Michael.'"

Paula lost joint custody of her three daughters with Bob Geldof, when the Boomtown Rats singer applied for full access.

Bob looked after the girls during school term time with Paula allowed to see them during the holidays only.

Michael and Paula Yates with Peaches Geldof and Pixie Geldof (right) and their friend, Natasha (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Peaches Geldof, second daughter of musician Bob Geldof and Paula Yates (Getty Images)

She then faced another custody battle over her youngest daughter Tiger Lily, from her relationship with Hutchence.

Yates was found dead at her Notting Hill home in September 2000.

Following the tragic loss of her parents , Tiger, was raised by Bob Geldolf alongside her sisters Fifi, Peaches and Pixie.

Peaches, who got married, had two children and transformed her raucous party girl persona into the life of a devoted mum and journalist, tragically died in 2014 aged 25.

The second child of Paula and Bob was found dead after a heroin overdose that was ruled unintentional.

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