Tiger Lily Hutchence‘s secret East London wedding to filmmaker Ben Archer this weekend was an intimate affair with 30 of their nearest and dearest in attendance – but behind the singer’s happy day is a painful history.
The musician, 28, was four years old when she lost both of her very famous parents. Her mother Paula Yates passed away in 2000, from a heroin overdose at 41, three years after her father – INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, 37, died by suicide aged 37.
What ensued was a bitter feud over custody of the orphan, who was eventually raised by her adoptive father Bob Geldof – who has been married to Paula from 1986 to 1996.
Michael’s Australian mother and sister fought for custody, but it was ultimately decided that she should be raised in the UK alongside her half-siblings – Fifi, 42, Pixie, 34, and Peaches – who Bob shared with Paula.
They Geldofs were reportedly all in attendance at the wedding reception in a restaurant on Columbia Road, East London, but there was no hint that any of her father’s family were on the guest list.
Now pregnant with her first child, it is no doubt an emotionally charged time for Michael’s family with his grandchild about to enter the world.
But whatever the status of their relationship now, during Tiger’s early life she was kept apart from Michael’s family and reportedly didn’t know he was her biological father for some time.
Michael’s sister Tina and mother, Patricia Glassop, in particular fought for years to see more of Tiger Lily, and they laid the blame for their distant relationship with her firmly at Bob Geldof’s door.
Tiger Lily – who is expecting a baby with her filmmaker husband Ben, who had been her boyfriend for two years – will now be growing her family as the loved-up couple celebrated tying the knot and hired a restaurant on Columbia Road. Pictured last month
Her mother Paula Yates passed away in 2000, from a heroin overdose at 41, whereas her father – INXS frontman Michael Hutchence , 37, had died by suicide three years prior
Bob, left, pictured at a fashion show with his adopted daughter Tiger Lily, right, in 2010; who he raised in the UK
As reported by Mama Mia, Patricia said: ‘I think he 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.’
Patricia passed away in 2010, aged 84, having claimed in an interview a year earlier that she ‘barely knew’ her granddaughter.
‘I’ve begged and pleaded with him to let me see Tiger Lily again, but he’s turned a deaf ear,’ she said of Bob. ‘He’s treated me shabbily.’
It is believed the last time Patricia saw Tiger Lily was in April 2006 when Sir Bob came to Australia and allowed Tiger to see her grandmother for a few days.
Tiger Lily wrote a note to Patricia at the time thanking her ‘granny’ for a wonderful holiday and promising to visit again soon.
During that holiday, she had spent five days with her grandmother, accompanied by Tiger’s nanny.
The year she passed, Patricia had begged Sir Bob Geldof to let her see her granddaughter one more time – on what would have been the late singer’s 50th birthday. Bob and Tiger Lily pictured in 2008
In addition to her plea, his sister Tina also expresses how much the Australian rocker doted on his daughter in the precious months they spent together. Michael and his mother Patricia pictured together
The musician, 28, was only four years old when she lost both of her very famous parents. What ensued was a bitter feud over custody for the orphan, who was eventually raised by her adoptive dad Bob Geldof – who has been married to Paula from 1986 to 1996. Pictured in 2005: Left to right: Fifi, Tiger Lily (front), Bob, Pixie and Peaches
Patricia Glassop – Michael’s mother (right) – and her daughter Tina (left), made public pleas to have more of a relationship with her
Patricia told a magazine later: ‘I played her some of Michael’s old music videos and she asked me who it was.
‘I told her “It’s your daddy”. She smiled and followed all the moves, dancing along with Michael.’
Although Patricia had seen her granddaughter a few times following her birth in July 1996, she always maintained it was not enough.
The year she passed, Patricia had begged Sir Bob Geldof to let her see her granddaughter one more time – on what would have been the late singer’s 50th birthday.
Patricia felt as though she has ‘lost’ Tiger Lily as well as her son, after not seeing the teen ‘for years’.
Speaking from her home on Australia’s Gold Coast, Patricia said: ‘I miss Michael terribly.
‘His death is more than ten years ago but it seems like yesterday.
‘What also helps is that I get plenty of fans, and girls, coming up to me and wishing me well and telling me how much they love Michael, and wanting to know more about him.
Patricia felt as though she has ‘lost’ Tiger Lily as well as her son, after not seeing the teen ‘for years’. Pictured recently
‘It really helps console me. I just wish it could have been otherwise and that he was still alive.’
Speaking about Tiger Lily, she added: ‘I haven’t seen her for years. She has only been out here to Australia once since Michael died when Bob brought her out.
‘I don’t know how to contact her any more… I think the situation is disgusting. I actually heard he was sending her to boarding school but I don’t know how true that is.
‘Maybe she’s better off at a boarding school if she can’t come to Australia.’
‘It’s hard enough missing Michael so much – but I have lost her, too.
‘I won’t continue arguing with Sir Bob about this. I’m too tired to fight now.’
She added that she had accepted that Michael did hang himself in Sydney‘s Ritz Carlton hotel but claimed ‘there was a reason for it’.
‘His daughter had been taken away from him,’ she continued.
According to The Sun , Tiger Lily and Ben – who met in 2023 – were ‘keen to marry’ ahead of the birth of their first child
Although Tiger Lily has enjoyed a quiet childhood out of the spotlight, she had spent some time in Australia in her twenties. Pictured in recent snaps
In her statement to the police, in 1997 – after Michael died – Paula claimed that Michael was ‘terribly upset’ and said ‘I don’t know how I’ll live without seeing Tiger’ in November, the same month in which he killed himself, after learning she wouldn’t be able to visit him in Australia for INXS’s concert.
Paula and Bob were at the time going through divorce, and had been in Court over the custody of their three daughters. She alleged that it was because Court had been adjourned, meaning she couldn’t leave London with the girls for another month, that they weren’t able to make the trip.
A Britishjudge, Mrs Justice Bracewell, decided following Paula’s death thatTiger Lily should spend the rest of her childhood with Sir Bob and hisdaughters Fifi, Peaches and Pixie.
Although Tiger Lily has enjoyed a quiet childhood out of the spotlight, she had spent some time in Australia in her twenties.
It is understood that there, she reconnected with Michael’s family – however it is not known what her current relationship with his half-sister, Tina, is like.
In 2014, Tiger Lily’s estranged aunt penned an open letter published in New Idea Magazine where she gushed about the love Michael had for his child in the hope of convincing her to return to her father’s homeland.
‘I know Michael would want you to visit Australia, the country he loved so much,’ she wrote.
‘He made certain you had an Australian passport, and he desperately wanted you to spend your formative years here.’
It is understood that there, she reconnected with Michael’s family – however it is not known what her current relationship with his half-sister, Tina, is like
Micheal’s friend and band member Tim Farriss, has also previously spoken about the lead singer’s parental wishes, telling Channel Seven that Michael would have ‘hated’ the thought of Tiger Lily being brought up by Sir Bob.
The guitarist said: ‘Michael hated Bob in the end so much, to think that he would end up as the sole parent of Tiger Lily would have been the most horrific thing he could have imagined. But luckily for Tiger she had Bob at the end.’
In addition to her plea, his sister Tina also expresses how much the Australian rocker doted on his daughter in the precious months they spent together.
She describes how he looked at her with so much affection and explains how he would repeatedly tell her how much he loved her.
‘You don’t remember how he held you to his chest and sang in a voice so sweet and gentle until you closed your eyes and drifted off; but I do,’ she wrote.
Tiger Lily faced more tragedy in 2014, when she lost her sister Peaches.
So devastating was the tragedy of losing her sister – who was only 25 when she died of a drug overdose – that it is the subject of Tiger Lily’s 2022 album, titled Tragic Tiger’s Sad Meltdown.
Tiger Lily and Peaches were extremely close. A video posted online shows her playing the piano with Melisande Gutierrez, the daughter of Peaches’ best friend, Lily. And on her album notes, Tiger Lily reveals that ‘most’ of the songs are about Peaches.
Tiger Lily is very close with all of her half-sisters. Pictured, Bob with Peaches, Pixie and Fifi in 1998
‘It was really moving to create with so much freedom and understanding,’ she writes.
‘Most of the songs are about my sister Peaches who I lost as a teenager so singing them aloud felt very potent but my band always made me feel held.’
Tiger Lily was just four, and alone in the house with her mother, when she found Paula dead. She raised the alarm when a friend of Paula’s phoned, and she told her that she ‘couldn’t wake Mummy’.
The natural sanctuary for the little girl was the Geldofs’ home.
Tiger Lily already knew the Boomtown Rats star and charity campaigner well, having regularly stayed with him when Paula was struggling in the years after Michael’s death.
Her bond with her half-sisters was also crucial. Tiger Lily and Fifi initially shared a bed, clinging to each other in grief. Bob became her legal guardian and officially adopted her in 2007, determined to raise her far from the showbusiness spotlight.
At her £12,000-a-year sixth form in South West London, she was known for her bohemian spirit.
Having dabbled with acting and performance at a college in New York, she returned to London and studied for a degree at Goldsmiths College in South East London, from which she graduated in 2019.
The sisters pictured in 2004: Fifi , Pixie, Peaches and Tiger Lily all posing for a family photo together
Film-maker Richard Lowenstein, who met with Tiger Lily in 2019, has in past said: ‘The one thing she is, I believe, quite disturbed about is that there doesn’t seem to be any legal acknowledgement or even financial acknowledgment that she is her father’s daughter. The entire estate has vanished.
‘I was saying to her, “Maybe it’s still going to come to you when you’re 25”, but she just stopped laughing and said that she’s given up on that now. It’s literally gone.’
Michael’s estate and his trust was controlled by his former lawyer, and Tiger Lily’s godfather, Colin Diamond, who has said that Hutchence’s wealth was ‘eaten up by partying, gifts and huge legal bills’, meaning he died penniless.
Lowenstein added: ‘She met up with [him] and he handed her an envelope with £500 (AUD $900) in it and said: “There you go, that will tide you over.” I think Bob shook his head in horror and they both just walked out.’
Lowenstein said that he was pleased to have been able to give her an acoustic guitar which had belonged to her father, which left her ‘incredibly thrilled’.
Fifi, who is the oldest of the Yates-Geldof girls is, like Tiger Lily, not one for the spotlight. She lives quietly in the London suburbs with husband Andrew Robertson and their many dogs.
She has suffered from depression for much of her life, sparked during her parents’ vituperative divorce.
Fifi was not on good terms with Paula when she died, and hints that her mother’s drinking and drug use may have been to blame.
Tiger Lily’s father Michael, pictured performing in 1988, passed away from suicide in 1997, just months after she was born
Paula and Bob, pictured in 1985, were married to one another for ten years and had three kids together
In 1996, Paula – pictured – had a baby with Australian musician Michael Hutchence. She passed away in 2000
Tiger Lily’s adoptive father Bob meanwhile met French actress Jeanne Marine at a dinner party in 1996, where he had fled in a fit of depression over his divorce from his first wife
She once told an interviewer: ‘We had a tempestuous relationship to say the least. I don’t think I knew her that well.
‘If the situation that was going on then – I won’t elaborate on it – was going on today then the not talking would happen all over again. I don’t regret it and I still don’t.’
She had a wild period after her A-levels, following Paula’s death. ‘I absolutely lost my s*** for about a year. There was a lot of drinking and drug-taking.
‘I was a silly, hurt, stupid, reckless teenager. I do believe if I hadn’t met my ex-boyfriend at 19 or 20 then I would be dead by now.’
Meanwhile, Pixie lives in North London with her husband, the drummer George Barnett and their daughter, who was born in 2021. She’s had a long modelling career, supports marine conservation and has also worked as a DJ.
Her circle of friends includes Harry Styles and Princess Eugenie (she was a guest at the royal’s wedding).
The family is understood to still be close. In February last year, Bob was seen enjoying a family lunch with Tiger Lily and Fifi at a swanky French eatery in Chelsea – and embracing both in a hug before departing.
He was also reportedly among the 30 guests at Tiger Lily’s intimate wedding ceremony over the weekend.
According to The Sun, Tiger Lily and Ben – who met in 2023 – were ‘keen to marry’ ahead of the birth of their first child.
MailOnline contacted Tiger Lily’s representatives for comment at the time.
A source said: ‘Tiger Lily and Ben had a very chic, very low-key wedding on Saturday. They hired out a restaurant on Columbia Road for about 30 guests.
‘Tiger Lily’s sisters, Pixie and Fifi, were there, as well as Bob. The guest list was very rock ’n’ roll, with Tiger Lily’s godfather, Nick Cave, invited, too.
‘Tiger Lily and Ben are so happy together and this ceremony was just for their closest friends and family. It was a beautiful day and, after the service, they all sat down to have a meal together.’
Tiger Lily’s husband revealed the news of her pregnancy last month when he shared an art flyer on Instagram which showed her showing off a large baby bump.
‘My love @heavenlytiger is doing a show,’ he commented.
Tiger then confirmed the exciting news by responding with a hatching chicken emoji.
‘Wahooo love you,’ she wrote alongside the post.
Followers expressed their excitement, with one person commenting: ‘The joint exhibition!! the pregnancy!! I can’t take it!!’
‘Is T having a baby?’ another questioned while a third wrote: ‘YES!! THIS IS HUGE.’
According to Woman’s Day magazine, Tiger Lily and Ben have been ‘inseparable’.
‘His family adore her and she loves that they’re so normal compared to hers,’ a source told the publication last year.
‘Things are getting very serious between them. Everyone’s expecting an engagement announcement any day now.’
In July, Tiger Lily made her feelings clear when she declared ‘I love you’ on an affectionate birthday post Ben made for her on Instagram.
Another photo saw Tiger Lily leaving flirty comments underneath his modelling photos.
‘Fit. I love you naked,’ she wrote, to which he cheekily replied: ‘Make out with me?’.
Tiger Lily then quickly replied: ‘Yes!’
According to the insider, Ben has ‘completely swept her off her feet’ and he’s ‘everything she wants in a man’.
Tiger was previously romantically linked to Aussie musician Nick Allbrook, but the pair called it quits after six years in April 2023.
According to reports in 2020, Tiger Lily and her former partner were engaged after she was seen sporting a ring on her wedding finger.
Tiger Lily’s adoptive father Bob meanwhile met French actress Jeanne Marine at a dinner party in 1996, where he had fled in a fit of depression over his divorce from his first wife.
They quickly became inseparable, though remained tight-lipped about their romance, moving in together in London.
Bob has credited Jeanne with helping him to raise his daughters, Fifi, Pixie, Peaches, as well as his adoptive daughter, Tiger-Lilly – and previously said his children ‘wouldn’t have survived’ without her.
Tiger Lily was last seen performing on stage in Perth at two separate venues in 2020, where she sang and played piano with a guitarist.
Her life is a paradise of surfing, meditation and yoga – a world away from the gritty celebrity scene enjoyed by her late parents.
Born Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, she was always known as Tiger Lily but today prefers to use the name Heavenly.
