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The in-depth interview (Part 1)
Paula Yates |
There was a fair bit
of press furore around your visit to Australia - with one photographer claiming
he was pushed off a wall by security men - but are you pleased, all in all,
that you made the trip?
I'm really pleased, because I know that, more than anything else, Michael
would have wanted his daughter christened in Australia. It was all so important
to him. He was so nationalistic and... sort of funny about all of those
things.
He would have really been proud that the church
was full of his oldest friends and his family and the people who truly loved
him.
And I must say - you know how normally vicars aren't
very good? That's a bit cruel, but if they don't know you, they have a hard
time. Well, we just had such a lovely man do the service. And Tiger was
very traditional. Normally she is Miss Hammy and loves having her picture
taken and having an audience - but she howled her head off as soon as the
water got near her. And it was a bit sad, actually, because she'd had her
hair done in the morning with little pin curls. And I think that's what
it was. When they put this water on her head, she thought they were destroying
her beautiful hairdo.
It was a sweet ceremony. But there was also something
heart-rending. I thought Sydney would, in some way, be healing, when actually
all you do is look around and think, 'Where's Michael?' All I do is look
out of the window and think, 'Where is he? Why isn't he next to me?' |
 Colin Diamond,
Andrew Young, Paula with Tiger, Belinda Brewin, Michael Hutchence's manager
Martha Troup and the Reverend David Luke |
Have you felt drawn towards
Australia since Michael's death?
I feel a desperate need to be in Australia, just to be where he lived, where
he died, where we were happy - all of those things. There's a certain spirituality
that, when you face death like this, you never, ever think you're going
to find in yourself. I'm sure nobody ever thought they'd find it in me,
but it's there.
And then I had quite a bad accident yesterday...
I understand you were on a boat in Sydney Harbour and a hatch came loose,
struck you on the head and pitched you into the water...
That was shocking, because part of Michael's ashes were scattered into
Sydney Harbour. I was hit in the head and cut very badly and, as I fell
into the water, I thought, 'This is it - he's coming for me.' But then,
as usual, some idiot got me out of the water. |
 Belinda
Brewin with Paula and a very relaxed Tiger after her speical - but obiously
tiring - day |
But you didn't really
want to stay in there, did you?
Yes. I thought,
'He's come for me' - I really did, because it was such a weird accident.
You know how strong that yachting fibreglass is? The lid of the entire yacht
flew off, hit me in the head, shattering in the process and knocked me into
the water - I mean that is like a freak accident. I just thought 'I'm going...' |
 Colin Diamond,
Andrew Young, Paula, Belinda Brewin, and Reverend David Luke who inadvertently
upset Tiger by ruining her pin-curl hairstyle |
Do you have a real sense
of Michael coming back to you, then?
I have Tiger - and in a way that is quite strange because Tiger, with every
day, becomes more like Michael, and I'm not just saying that in the sense
of how normally kids are like their parents. It's an uncanny thing. She
has all his mannerisms. She acts like him; she has that innate peace that
he had - she is just so, so gentle - very like him. It's interesting, watching
her grow.
Have you seen a change come over Tiger as a result of the last few months?
Since he died? That's hard to judge, because I think it's tough on a child
who's only coming up to two years old to spend 24 hours of her day with
her mother. That's quite something - it's been really intense, what she's
been through.
But so much has been going on here. I mean obviously
we saw all of Michael's band (INXS), which was a wonderful thing. And I
used to get cross with people saying something good would come out of Michael's
death - it's always been one of those things that rather annoys me. But
Michael's brother, Rhett, who has had problems with drugs all his life,
has now decided once and for all to go into detox. So, in a way, some good
is coming out of it, because it means Rhett's partner and his small child
will no longer have to live with a man possessed by drugs. |
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