Peaches Geldof was found dead in her home in 2014. For her father Bob Geldof, the grief is "boundless".

This post discusses drug abuse, and may be triggering for some readers.

From the early 1980s onwards, Paula Yates attracted headlines everywhere she went.

The British rock journalist and television presenter, who was known for her work on The Tube and morning program The Big Breakfast, was first thrust into the spotlight when she began dating Bob Geldof, the frontman of The Boomtown Rats, at just 18 years old.

From the early beginnings of their relationship in 1977, the famous couple quickly became one of the most-watched couples  in Britain. And before long, the couple had a family of their own – Fifi, born in 1983, Peaches, born in 1989, and Pixie, born in 1990.

The four women in Michael Hutchence’s life. Post continues after podcast. 

Behind the scenes, however, the couple’s relationship wasn’t quite as perfect as it seemed.

While the couple were married for a decade, their relationship was constantly plagued by rumours of infidelity on both sides.

In 1994, following an intimate interview on Big Breakfast with Michael Hutchence, Yates left her husband for the INXS frontman.

Just two years later – and two months after Geldof and Yates finalised their divorce – Yates and Hutchence welcomed their only daughter together, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence.

Devastatingly, Tiger Lily would only know her father for 16 months. On November 22, 1997, Hutchence ended his own life in a hotel room in Sydney.

In the years that followed, Yates lost custody of her three daughters from her relationship with Geldof and struggled with her mental health.

On September 17, 2000, Yates died at her home in London of an accidental heroin overdose.

At just four years old, Tiger Lily was an orphan.

Controversially, Tiger Lily was adopted by Geldof and brought up alongside her half-sisters Fifi, Peaches and Pixie.

Years later, however, tragedy struck the same family twice.

On April 7, 2014, Peaches Geldof was found dead by her husband Thomas Cohen in their home in the quiet countryside of Kent.

The columnist, TV presenter and model was just 25 years old.

Just as her mother Paula Yates had passed away when Peaches was just 11 years old, the 25-year-old mother-of-two died of a heroin overdose.

In a new interview, Peaches' father, Bob Geldof has opened up about the "boundless" grief he continues to experience following the death of his second eldest daughter.

Speaking to comedian Tommy Tiernan on his Irish chat show, the musician opened up about how attending the funeral of a friend's son opened up old wounds.

"He didn't want me to come for fear that I had to relive it. But I had to be there for him because it is unbearable," Geldof said on The Tommy Tiernan Show.

Bob Geldof opens up about raising Michael Hutchence's daughter, Tiger Lily Hutchence. Post continues below.

The 68-year-old Boomtown Rats frontman added that the grief he experiences over his daughter is "ever-present".

"Time doesn't heal, time accommodates," Geldof said.

"You're driving along, and you're at the traffic lights, and for no reason whatsover the person in question inhabits you. And I'll cry," he continued.

"And then I look around to make sure the people next door don't see me, aren't taking a photo of me and posting it or something. But that happens, and that happens to everyone."

When these moments of grief surface, Geldof added that he acknowledges and accepts that "it's time to cry now".

"And you just do it to the maximum because there's no use holding it in. Light are green or whatever you do before and then you go. And that'll always be there, and you accommodate that," he said.

"But once you understand the nature of this... because it is boundless, and it is bottomless, the grief, the abyss is infinite."

In the same interview, Geldof admitted that he constantly worried about his daughter in the years prior to her death.

"I knew she was doing drugs, that she's always dabbled and the panic was always there," he said.

In the months after her death, Geldof said in an interview that he was often overcome with grief.

"I’m walking down the road and suddenly out of the blue there’s an awareness of her and I buckle," he said.

"And I’ve got to be very careful because walking down the King’s Road there’s paps everywhere so I have to duck into a lane and blub for a while."

Prior to her death in 2014, Peaches married musician Thomas Cohen in September 2012 after becoming engaged in June 2011.

In the years before the couple married, Peaches went through a self-described rebellious teenage period. While Peaches reportedly experimented with drugs during this period, she was "never that wild", according to the BBC.

As she settled down with Thomas, moving into their picturesque five-bedroom home, it's believed Peaches "calmed down" and embraced domestic life.

Peaches and Thomas had two sons together – Astala Dylan Willow Geldof-Cohen, born in April 2012, and Phaedra Bloom Forever Geldof-Cohen, born in April 2013.

In her final interview before her death, Peaches told Aga Living Magazine that motherhood had been a "healing process" – especially with coming to terms with her mother's death.

"I’m not sure I’ve yet fully made peace with my childhood, but with my mum I have come to terms with everything. She had a really difficult time," she said.

"I was rootless and having the kids really anchored me in place and changed my life for the better... Before, I was just not at peace with myself about it because I was just traumatised."

In 2013, Peaches opened up about her struggle with grief following her mother's death in 2000.

"I remember the day my mother died, and it's still hard to talk about it," she told Elle in 2013.

"I just blocked it out. I went to school the next day because my father's mentality was 'keep calm and carry on'. So we all went to school and tried to act as if nothing had happened. But it had happened. I didn't grieve. I didn't cry at her funeral. I couldn't express anything because I was just numb to it all. I didn't start grieving for my mother properly until I was maybe 16."

Although Peaches was said to have moved away from her rebellious teenager past after becoming a mother, an inquest into her death found that Peaches had struggled with drug addiction.

At an inquest into her death, Thomas said his wife had been seeking treatment for her struggles with addiction in the two years before she died. He said she was undergoing weekly drug tests and although she always told him they were clear, he told the inquest he had later come to believe she had been lying to him.

In an interview in 2017, Thomas told a German newspaper that he "was not surprised" to find his wife unresponsive in their home.

"I thought to myself at the moment, 'Yes of course – you had to do that," he said.

Feature Image: Getty.

For more on this topic:

• Paula Yates and Peaches Geldof: The tragedy that struck the same family twice.
  
• Peaches Geldof was found dead in her home. Her family could never bear to step inside again.
  
• "I thought I was going crazy." The story of Fifi Trixibelle Geldof, the 'unknown' Geldof sister.
  
• "It's literally gone." Decades after Michael Hutchence's death, Tiger Lily still hasn't received a cent of her inheritance.
  

If this post brought up any issues for you, you can contact Drug Aware, Australia's 24hr alcohol and drug support line. You can reach them on (08) 9442 5000 or 1800 198 024.