Ten years on since Peaches Geldof’s drug-related death, we look at the impact addiction can have on children
WORDS: FRANCES LEATE. PHOTOS: GETTY, SHUTTERSTOCK. *SCIENCE.ORG
Most of us know the story of the charismatic, blonde beauty, Paula Yates. The TV presenter lived much of her adult life in the spotlight, marrying Bob Geldof and leaving him for INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. She was always a woman who made headlines, veering unpredictably from wild and outspoken to devoted mum. When she died in 2000 from an accidental heroin overdose, aged 41, she was at home alone with her youngest daughter, Tiger Lily, then four. Her older daughters, Fifi, then 17, Peaches, 11, and Pixie, 10, had been living with their father at the time.
As the years past, her second eldest, Peaches, seemed to be mirroring her mum’s life by courting fame, marrying a rock star, having two children and writing about parenting, eventually appearing to embrace the wholesome life of a stay-at-home mum just like Paula did for a time. Only, tragically, that wasn’t where the similarities ended, and Peaches, then 25, shocked the nation when she also passed away while home with her youngest child, after an accidental heroin overdose in April 2014.
Only, Peaches’ widow, Thomas Cohen – who discovered her body and was left to care for their children, then 23 months and 11 months – has since said he wasn’t surprised by her death. ‘Heroin is a drug that makes you feel something better than life. This is the terrible thing – you are feeding your body with something that will kill you,’ he said. ‘When I found her, I was not surprised. I thought to myself at that moment, “Yes of course – you had to do that.”’
A child of a drug-addicted parent is eight times more likely to become an addict themselves*. We speak to a woman who overcame the devastation of losing her mum to drug addiction, and broke the cycle that can prove too strong for many.
FIFI GELDOF, now 41, is married and works in PR. She avoids the spotlight. PIXIE GELDOF, now 33, is an animal rights activist and environmental campaigner. She is married with a daughter. TIGER LILY, now 27, who also lost her father Michael Hutchence to drugs, was adopted by Paula’s ex-husband Bob Geldof and now lives in her biological dad’s native Australia. She is a musician, but avoids the media s
