Peaches Geldof Found Dead

Peaches Geldof, daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, has died, aged 25 on 7 April 2014.

The journalist and TV personality was found dead at her home in Kent, United Kingdom at around 1.35pm and the cause of her death is not yet officially known, how the ambulance services have described it as "sudden death".

"Police were called to an address in Wrotham, Kent, following reports concerning the welfare of a 25-year-old woman," ambulance services said in a statement. "The woman was pronounced dead at the scene by South East Coast Ambulance Service.

"At this stage the death is being treated as unexplained and sudden. They are now working to establish the circumstances surrounding the death."

Peaches and her son

Peaches with baby Phaedra

How tragic Peaches Geldof, the original wild child turned doting mum, spent her life fighting the demons of her fractured childhood.

• Admitting to taking drugs, Peaches said: 'It's something people go through in their lives'. 
• She was pictured following a 'heroin'-addled 'one-night stand' with a stranger in November 2009
• The daughter of Sir Bob Geldof and Paula Yates told how their divorce shattered her world
• She said of her mother's heroin overdose when she was 11:  'I didn't grieve. I didn't cry at her funeral. I didn't start grieving for my mother properly until I was maybe 16.’
• Her youngest son Phaedra will turn 1 on April 24 - on her mother's birthday
• Speaking about her children: 'Even if it’s an archaic idea I want them to have a mummy and daddy together for ever. It’s a commitment. I want to be a good wife, a good mother, a good person'

It is the last sentimental picture posted online by Peaches Geldof just hours before her death aged 25 that sums up her short and tragic life.

Nestled in the arms of her mother, Paula Yates, a young Peaches, with a red bow tied in her tousled blonde hair, gazes up as at the camera as Paula gives a small smile.  The caption reads simply: ‘Me and my mum’.

The loss of Paula from a heroin overdose when Peaches was just 11 in 2000 was the catalyst for an uncertain and precarious life dogged by allegations of drug abuse that only seemed to be finally stable when she gave birth to her own little boys and married musician Thomas Cohen.

Devastating: Just a day before her death, Peaches Geldof tweeted a picture of her as a little girl with Paula Yates, with the simple caption 'Me and my mum'

Tragic: Peaches Geldof cradled as a baby in her mother Paula Yates' arms as her father Sir Bob Geldof and sister Fifi look on in 1989

Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa Geldof  was born on March 13, 1989, in London, the second daughter of Boomtown Rats star Sir Bob Geldof and his then wife, TV presenter Paula Yates. 

She was six when her mother left Boomtown Rats star Sir Bob for INXS singer Michael Hutchence. They divorced in 1996.  In a revealing interview with Elle magazine in 2012, Peaches described the change in her mother after the split, admitting: ‘The transition of my mother who was amazing, who wrote books on parenting, who gave us this idyllic childhood in Kent; and who then turned into this heartbroken shell of a woman who was just medicating to get through the day.

‘On top of that, there was my father who was very embittered and depressed about it and for us children, an environment that was impossible, veering between a week with my mother that was complete chaos, and then with my father, which was almost Dickensian – homework, dinner, bed –because he was trying in his own way to combat what was going on at my mother’s.’

Australian rockstar Michael was found hanged in a hotel room in Sydney in 1997, and three years later Paula died from an accidental heroin overdose aged 41.

Live Aid founder Sir Bob was left to look after Peaches and her sisters Fifi Trixibelle and Pixie, as well as Tiger Lily, Paula’s daughter by Hutchence.

As Peaches said, she remained unable to come to terms with her mother’s death for several years.

‘I remember the day my mother died, and it's still hard to talk about it. I just blocked it out. I went to school the next day because my father's mentality was 'keep calm and carry on', she said.

‘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.’

Peaches admitted to heavy drinking and taking drugs herself as a teenager, but insisted that she had always used the memory of her mother to stop her spiralling out of control.  She said: ‘I did experiment with drugs, I did get drunk and go to parties, but I was never that wild. 

‘I could have been, I could have let myself spiral but all the time I remembered what happened to my mum.’

But despite her comments, in her bleakest teenage days, Peaches faced allegations of shoplifting and drug abuse and it was feared she would follow in her mother’s tragic decline.

Happy family: Peaches Geldof said her world ended when her parents divorced. She's seen here holding her dad Sir Bob Geldof's hand at EuroDisney in April 1992.

Grief: Peaches Geldof said of her mother's death: '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

On April 12 2012, she became a mother to her son Astala with Thomas Cohen, the lead singer of S.C.U.M, whom she married in a lavish ceremony in September 2012, covered by Hello! Magazine.

Wearing a crown of daisies and an ethereal lace gown, Peaches looked every inch the fairy-tale bride.

The young lovers married in a unique ceremony in the Kent country estate of Sir Bob, Davington Priory , and was described by Peaches as 'a country wedding meets Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream'.

Giving his father of the bride speech, Sir Bob quipped that it was a ‘relief’ to see his daughter married off, adding: 'It's a beautiful day, in all senses of the word. I am happy for them. I love seeing people in love.'

The occasion was also laced with some sadness as it was same church where her late mother, TV presenter Paula Yates was laid to rest in 2000, and where her parents had their marriage blessed in 1986 after tying the knot in Las Vegas.

In an interview with Hello magazine, Peaches said: 'I feel her presence all the time but especially today. Mum loved family celebrations and she would adore Tom and the fact that we’ve married here.I know she is watching over me and feeling so happy for us.'

Talking of her new family life, Peaches said of Astala: "His birth was like a rebirth for me, and I honestly never thought anything in my life would ever be good. I’m obsessed with getting it right. 

'The second I held him it was like this missing piece of my life being put into place; everything started to heal.'

She added: 'The very worst thing that happened to me started with my parents’ divorce, it really affected the rest of my life. 

'Even if it’s an archaic idea I want Astala to have a mummy and daddy together for ever. It’s a commitment. I want to be a good wife, a good mother, a good person.'

Happy family: Peaches had finally found happiness with her husband two boys

She went on to give birth to her second son, Phaedra, who will turn one on April 24 – on what would have been Paula’s 54th birthday. ‘I couldn't help feeling mom must have had a hand in it,' she mused.

The last few years made it clear she was a wild child no more. Although she remained almost scarily thin, her Instagram and twitter feeds were filled with pictures and videos of her young family and treasured dog Parpy.

The saddest thing is that she will never get to give her children what she most wanted – a safe and secure childhood. 

But as her husband Thomas said today: 'My beloved wife Peaches was adored by myself and her two sons Astala and Phaedra and I shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts everyday. We shall love her forever. Thomas, Astala and Phaedra Geldof-Cohen.'

Source : Hellomagazine & Sara Nathan, Daily Mail, UK