Michael Hutchence's daughter Tiger Lily keeps out of spotlight
TIGER Lily never knew her dad Aussie rocker Michael Hutchence, having grown up on the other side of the world in London.
She was only 16 months old when Michael Hutchencewas found dead in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Double Bay in November 1997.
According to Hutchence's mother Patricia Glassop the first time Tiger realised who her father was almost 10 years later in 2006 when during an agreed visit to Australia she showed her granddaughter old INXS music videos and told her the frontman was her daddy when she asked who the group was.
But today according to those close to the now 17-year-old, she is a self-assured confident young woman no doubt aware of her connection to Australia and the background of her father as captured by "Never Tear Us Apart".
Her equally famous rocker stepfather Bob Geldof has sought to shield Tiger Lily from the public spotlight for much of her life. He even did not let her attend Patricia Glassop's funeral when she died in 2010 for fear of the media attention she would receive.
Cover your ears! Kochie gets behind the microphone to sing the INXS classic song 'Never Tear Us Apart' LIVE on Sunrise! Courtesy: Sunrise, Seven Network
His adoption of the baby was no small thing given the bitter animosity he felt toward Hutchence who had an affair with his wife rock journalist Paula Yates and who gave birth to Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily two months after they, Yates and Geldof, divorced in May 1996.
By that stage Geldof and Yates had three other daughters Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom and Little Pixie. But he chose to give her as much a normal life as possible and not be tainted by the rock and roll lifestyle of sex and drugs that claimed her father and her mother on September 17, 2000 from a heroin overdose. After years as her official foster carer, Geldof was formally granted her adoption in 2007 at which time he added Geldof to her Hutchence surname. She is rarely pictured in the British press despite the profile of her older siblings including TV presenter Peaches, 24, and model 23-year-old Pixie.
Two years ago, rare pictures of Tiger were released on Instagram and tweeted by Peaches to her 132,000 followers and Tiger's resemblance to Hutchence was uncanny. Same eyes and pout and good looks that attracted many comments on Twitter which her proud older sister also put out, many remarking on her spitting image of her father. There were a series of photos taken at a family lunch.
Rarely seen ... Tiger Lily Hutchence in London on 15 July 2013. Picture: Snapper Media Source: Snapper Media
Would never know her father ... Michael Hutchence with Tiger Lily. Picture: Supplied Source: News Limited
Tiger has been attending a private school in south London close to the Battersea home where she lives with Geldof and his partner of 16 years French actress Jeanne Marine. Jeanne-Marine has doted on Tiger since she was a baby and the pair are very close. Where the older Geldof children had been left to their own devices, Tiger has lived under rules and curfews enforced by her stepmother. She, perhaps a calming force in the madcap world of the Geldofs. The three older daughters all live close to the Battersea home.
She also spent time growing up with her sisters in Faversham in Kent where Geldof has lived for more than 30 years on a very large estate once part of Davington Priory. She has a passion for drama class and has auditioned for small acting roles but is said to be very studious, smart, mild mannered and down to earth. She likes to sing and plays guitar in an all-girl band. She once told Geldof after hearing a Hutchence song "my real dad's a better singer than you dad." Geldof laughed off the remark at the time but perhaps begrudgingly recognises her father's musical ability was great. That said, the 62-year-old three-time Nobel Peace prize nominee Irishman still often remarks his Boomtown Rats band for which he first made his name with their one hit was the first modern band to come out of Ireland. He has all Hutchence's belongings including photographs and music memorabilia as left to Tiger in Patricia Glassop's will, to ensure Tiger never forgets who her father was. At some stage it may be he also lets her watch the movie on the INXS star's life; his management would yesterday not comment on his or Tiger's personal life.
Facial features similar to her dad’s ... Tiger Lily Hutchence. Picture: Instagram / Peaches Geldof Source:Instagram
In Sydney ... Michael Hutchence and partner Paula Yates with their baby Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. Source:Supplied
Hutchence younger brother Rhett has had his difficult times with Geldof post the death of Michael but now believes Tiger Lily was a credit to the Irish rockers role as a stepdad.
He sided with Geldof against his own mothers' wishes for the child, that she and Michael's sister Tina somehow be Tiger's guardians, and believes that decision to support Tiger growing up with her half sisters in England has been vindicated.
"She's a smart girl, a real credit to Bob," he told a magazine recently. Pixie too said her father, despite being busy with his various anti-poverty projects and charities, held the family together during a difficult period following Yates' death.
Despite her son's support for Geldof, Patricia Glassop considered him the devil who had done all he could to erase her son's memory from Tiger's life.
It is believed Tiger had made only the one visit to Australia, the one in 2006 when Mrs Glassop introduced her granddaughter to Hutchence's music, in what Mrs Glassop claimed was part of Geldof's memory erasure campaign.
"I think he is Satan," she said in an interview shortly after Geldof made it clear he wanted to formally adopt Tiger and planned to add his surname to hers.
"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."
The changing of the phone number perhaps came after Mrs Glassop reportedly would ring the Geldof home several times a day trying to speak to her granddaughter at all hours.
In 2010, Mrs Glassop said: "I've begged and pleaded with him to let me see Tiger Lily again, but he's turned a deaf ear. He's treated me shabbily."
It is believed she had only saw her granddaughter twice, once in Australia when she stayed with her for five days at the Gold Coast home and another when she travelled to London. She said Geldof's daughter's particularly Peaches were the wrong role models to have and the only reason Geldof wanted Tiger was to secure the Hutchence inheritance. This is despite Geldof estimated to independently be worth $50 million through his astute investments in property and production companies.
Tina, who lives in the United States, also said Geldof had tried to ensure she could not get access to her niece including refusing to hand over email addresses with the claim there were no computers at his home. That was some years ago and now no doubt Tiger Lily is fully engaged in social media. It would be hard to avoid publicity of the movie that has been made about her natural dad or the legacy to music he left behind predominantly in Australia but also worldwide.
Back in the spotlight ... Tiger Lily, Michael Hutchence;s daughter, is now 17. Picture: Instagram / Peaches GeldofSource: Instagram
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