Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates asked Bono to be Tiger Lily's godfather. He said no.

Musician Bono has spoken about his strained relationship with late INXS rocker Michael Hutchence.

In his memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, Bono reflected on his friendship with the late INXS frontman, which began when Hutchence was dating British rock journalist and television presenter Paula Yates in the early '90s.

The famous couple first met when Yates was married to Bob Geldof, the frontman of The Boomtown Rats.

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Despite having three children together — Fifi, born in 1983, Peaches, born in 1989, and Pixie, born in 1990 — the couple’s marriage was shrouded in persistent rumours of Geldof’s infidelity.

But in the end, it was Yates who strayed.

In 1994, Yates interviewed Hutchence on Big Breakfast — a British morning show that involved Yates interviewing musicians and celebrities on a cow-print bed.

From the moment the interview began, the chemistry between the pair was undeniable. And just four months later, Yates left her husband for Hutchence.

As Bono shared in his book, the duo's relationship was intense.

"Paula worshipped Michael at a time when he needed all the adoration he could get, things not going well on- and offstage for INXS," he wrote.

But at the time, Bono's wife, Ali Hewson, was concerned the couple's intense relationship was "going to go wrong".

And her instincts were right. As Bono described, the couple were soon in "free fall — spiralling down the vortex of a recreational drug use that had become hard work for everyone, especially their family".

Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence with Paula's children. Image: Getty.

"As their behaviour changed, our friendship became strained, and we grew uncomfortable during their visits," he wrote.

In July 1996, Yates and Hutchence welcomed their only daughter together — Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence.

And when the new parents asked Bono and Hewson to be godparents to Tiger Lily, the couple refused, saying they were "wigged out" by the couple's drug use.

In Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, Bono said they hoped the move would influence Yates and Hutchence to reconsider their behaviour. But instead, it pushed them further away.

"It only made them think again about us," the 64-year-old wrote.

"That we can half live with our conscience is no substitute for the fact that we can’t live at all with our friends. They are gone."

Just a few months after Tiger Lily was born, a nanny discovered a tube of lollies that contained opium and heroin under the couple's bed.

The couple claimed the tube had been planted, but the next month, Geldof gained custody of Fifi, Peaches and Pixie.

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It's believed the custody agreement significantly affected Hutchence's downward spiral.

"He was on Prozac, and being treated for depression on account of all the money he was spending and the problems with Paula and Bob," Hutchence's brother Rhett Hutchence claimed.

"When he started finding out how much it was costing him to be with her, I think he wanted to separate."

On November 22, 1997, Hutchence, then 37, ended his own life in a hotel room in Sydney. At the time, Hutchence's daughter, Tiger Lily, was just 16 months old.

On the day of the musician's death, Yates was in court fighting for permission to take all of her children to Australia to be with Hutchence during a three-month INXS tour. The judge refused.

Yates recalled walking from the courtroom and turning to her solicitor, saying, "This will kill Michael."

In June 1998, Yates lost custody of her three daughters from her relationship with Geldof.

Two years later, she passed away at 41 years old from a heroin overdose. At the time, Tiger Lily was four years old.

Fifi Geldof, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof, Pixie Geldof and Peaches Geldof in 2005. Image: Getty.

"Neither of us dreamed they’d both end up dead so soon," Bono wrote in his book.

"Even now, I can’t believe I’ve just written that."

Although Hutchence's mother and sister fought to have Tiger Lily live with them in Australia, she was adopted by her mother's ex-husband and father of her three half sisters, Bob Geldof.

The now 28-year-old recently announced that she is expecting a baby with her long-term boyfriend, model Ben Archer. The pair shared the news on Archer's Instagram, via an art-show flyer with a series of images, including a visibly pregnant Tiger Lily.

Read more on this topic:

Bono and his cousin Scott always 'felt like brothers'. In 2000, they discovered they were.

A rumoured engagement and no inheritance: The life of Michael Hutchence's daughter Tiger Lily.

In 1994, Paula Yates interviewed Michael Hutchence. Four months later, she left her husband.

Feature Image: Getty.

This article was originally published in November 2022 and has since been updated.

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