Sam Peel
Banned
In June 1998, Bob Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters after Yates attempted suicide.[12] Michael Hutchence's father, Kell Hutchence, "launched proceedings in Australia seeking sole custody of Tiger Lily after concerns over a new relationship Miss Yates began while being treated at a clinic for a nervous breakdown earlier this year."[citation needed] She met Kingsley O'Keke, 26, during her stay but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper.[13]
Yates's dispute with the Hutchence family over Michael's estate saw her struggling to bring up her daughter.[14]
While Yates was fighting for custody of Tiger, it was reported in the media that Jess Yates had not been Yates's natural father. A paternity test proved that the talent show host Hughie Green, who died six months before Hutchence, had in fact been her natural father.[15]
In his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), actor Rupert Everett wrote that he had a six-year affair with Yates.
Death[edit]
On 17 September 2000, her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday, Yates, 41, was found dead at her home in London of a heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.[16][17]
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