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Paula Yates: The Autobiography
Daughter of "Stars on Sunday" star Jess Yates and an eccentric starlet mother, Paula Yates's childhood was bizarre and often painful. She escaped from Wales to the glamour and chaos of the media world - the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof and her days on "The Tube". This is her own account of her life.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published October 23, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 18, 2013
Even though this memoir is really funny (Paula reminds me of the writer Caitlin Moran. Or Tina Fey at times) I felt sad the entire time I was reading this - knowing she would be dead of an accidental heroin overdose 5 years after the book was published. Also knowing that Michael Hutchence would be dead only about a year after the publication. Sad. Her poor kids. I read up online about the circumstances of her death and her 4 yr old daughter Tiger Lily found her. Super sad face! Imagine a four year old trying to "wake up" mommy. Just tragic.
Back to the memoir - it starts off well. Paula does a lovely job portraying her eccentric family and unique childhood. She does tend to mention celebrities known only to British people, like hosts of games shows or newspaper columnists. Luckily I had my iphone handy to look up various people she mentioned. She revealed more in terms of emotions and feelings in the early part of her memoir. It's much easier to write about they way you felt as a child over the way you felt a year ago. At one point she writes about loathing her father and again I felt sad, knowing (via google) that a year after her memoir was published, some journalists uncovered the fact that her father was not in fact her biological father but some dude her mother had had an affair with. Yikes, what a way to find that out! She had a DNA test and discovered it was true. The last few years of her life seemed pretty tough. Anyway, knowing what I know, it took me out of the story every time I read about her dad. How would she have written about her father once she knew the complete story?
Her relationship with Bob Geldolf is sporadically discussed. She does mention in the memoir that she does not want to write anything too negative or personal about the father of her children. That it would hurt the kids to read specific details about their parents break up. OK, I do get that but it does leave the reader a bit confused as to why exactly they divorced. She would bring up little details that portrayed him in a negative light. One odd example is when she hung up a photo of Michael Hutchence on their fridge(which is just weird, no matter how she explains it) and Bob wrote the word cunt on Michael's forehead. Considering Bob is raising Michael's child Tiger Lily, it just seems wrong. I mean, obviously, that is all in the future but wouldn't it be weird to read about your stepdad/adopted dad/whatever-he-is dad writing that on your bio dad's image?
The memoir falls apart at the end. It's like the book started getting too close to the present and Paula didn't want to write about that. There is a weird chapter about Take That and some other chapters that appear to have been compiled articles she's written on various subjects. Very strange. A hodge-podge assortment of vignettes that do little to further the story of her life.
I read this memoir to learn more about Paula Yates and I did. Honestly, the main reason I picked this book up was because in Richard Hell's memoir he writes about meeting her at a Sex Pistols concert & picking her up & teaching her about sex. Apparently he was so amazing she ran out and got a tattoo of a bird with the word Hell written underneath it. Richard used an image of her tattoo as the cover of one of his albums. Bob eventually made her get the tattoo removed by lasers. I wanted to get her side of the story. Also recently read John Taylor's memoir and he mentioned her as well. This memoir is an interesting addition to the many rock memoirs I've read.
Back to the memoir - it starts off well. Paula does a lovely job portraying her eccentric family and unique childhood. She does tend to mention celebrities known only to British people, like hosts of games shows or newspaper columnists. Luckily I had my iphone handy to look up various people she mentioned. She revealed more in terms of emotions and feelings in the early part of her memoir. It's much easier to write about they way you felt as a child over the way you felt a year ago. At one point she writes about loathing her father and again I felt sad, knowing (via google) that a year after her memoir was published, some journalists uncovered the fact that her father was not in fact her biological father but some dude her mother had had an affair with. Yikes, what a way to find that out! She had a DNA test and discovered it was true. The last few years of her life seemed pretty tough. Anyway, knowing what I know, it took me out of the story every time I read about her dad. How would she have written about her father once she knew the complete story?
Her relationship with Bob Geldolf is sporadically discussed. She does mention in the memoir that she does not want to write anything too negative or personal about the father of her children. That it would hurt the kids to read specific details about their parents break up. OK, I do get that but it does leave the reader a bit confused as to why exactly they divorced. She would bring up little details that portrayed him in a negative light. One odd example is when she hung up a photo of Michael Hutchence on their fridge(which is just weird, no matter how she explains it) and Bob wrote the word cunt on Michael's forehead. Considering Bob is raising Michael's child Tiger Lily, it just seems wrong. I mean, obviously, that is all in the future but wouldn't it be weird to read about your stepdad/adopted dad/whatever-he-is dad writing that on your bio dad's image?
The memoir falls apart at the end. It's like the book started getting too close to the present and Paula didn't want to write about that. There is a weird chapter about Take That and some other chapters that appear to have been compiled articles she's written on various subjects. Very strange. A hodge-podge assortment of vignettes that do little to further the story of her life.
I read this memoir to learn more about Paula Yates and I did. Honestly, the main reason I picked this book up was because in Richard Hell's memoir he writes about meeting her at a Sex Pistols concert & picking her up & teaching her about sex. Apparently he was so amazing she ran out and got a tattoo of a bird with the word Hell written underneath it. Richard used an image of her tattoo as the cover of one of his albums. Bob eventually made her get the tattoo removed by lasers. I wanted to get her side of the story. Also recently read John Taylor's memoir and he mentioned her as well. This memoir is an interesting addition to the many rock memoirs I've read.
May 15, 2023
My darling daughter bought me this for Mother’s Day 2023. Wonderful surprise. I was always in awe of Paula. She was cool, beautiful, funny and clever. So reading her story was a must! An incredible life all to short but a life well lived. Very interesting story which skims over her life, a lot to cover in a book. I enjoyed the read but sad knowing hers and Michaels demise. May she rest In the peace she wished for.
November 19, 2017
Yates seems to tread lightly over so much of her own life and others around her. So the gaps in the story are huge with much more space devoted to Take That than the start of what would be her final relationship and yet, because the tone is always open and treats the reader as a co-conspirator, you don't mind too much.
April 4, 2025
Incredibly entertaining, Paula was always great fun to spend time with. She was a cheeky girl who could tell the filthiest jokes. This book is a great insight into her life from childhood onwards. But as Jools Holland says at the back of the book, some of it is a pack of lies, a lot of tongue in cheek, but fun and a great read all the same.
September 1, 2014
Easy reading and interesting, I now know more about Paula then I did before except through the newspaper tabloids. This book dealt with her childhood and early years and 18 years with Bob. It only briefly touched on her relationship with Michael and tigerlily had not been born so I will now be checking our Michael's brothers book to see if I can fill in the gaps.
Its an interesting read if you want to know more about the Paula behind the headlines.
Its an interesting read if you want to know more about the Paula behind the headlines.
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March 24, 2014Most of grew up with Paula, even though we had to let go when fame and fortune took over "she" was always there. Her death was a shock. And it is sad that she is not around as an accomplished women enjoying middle age.
January 17, 2013
I loved Paula Yates. She was kinda my heroine. Amazing life that was cut too short by heartbreak and circumstance.
August 10, 2015
Paula was obviously a very intelligent lady and so articulate.You could feel her personality throughout the book. Such a sad conclusion to the life of a very vivacious lady.
May 11, 2008
I really enjoyed Paula Yates and was am so saddened how her life story ends.
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December 15, 2018Enjoyable read mostly but I disliked the last 40 or 50 pages, where Paula constantly namedrops or complains about the paparazzi.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews