Michael Hutchence's mother speaks out on the late stars 50th birthday
By Grant Hodgson Jan 22, 2010, 10:35 GMT
THE mother of INXS star Michael Hutchence has begged Sir Bob Geldof to be allowed to see her granddaughter one final time – on what would have been the late singer’s 50th birthday.
Hutchence, who had a daughter, Tiger Lily, with Sir Bob’s ex-wife Paul Yates, died in 1997 in a suspected suicide.
Paula died of a drug overdose three years later.
His mother, Patricia Glossop, today said she had not seen Tiger Lily, now 13, “for years”.
The teenager now lives with Sir Bob and his family in the UK.
Patricia said she wanted to see Tiger Lily “at least one last time” to feel closer to Michael, whose death still “feels as though it were yesterday”.
Patricia said she and her remaining children, Rhett and Tina, would be remembering Michael privately.
She also said she “never heard” from any of his former INXS bandmates.
And she was shocked to learn they were about to go on tour, saying they are now “too old”.
Speaking from her home on Australia’s Gold Coast, Patricia said: “I miss Michael terribly.
“His death is more than ten years ago but it seems like yesterday.
“Time is a healer though and the pain isn’t as raw as it was.
“What also helps is that I get plenty of fans, and girls, coming up to me and wishing me well and telling me how much they love Michael, and wanting to know more about him.
“It really helps console me. I just wish it could have been otherwise and that he was still alive.
“He was a fabulous performer.
“He could hold people in the palm of his hand when he was on stage.
“When I went out with him to restaurants the effect on people was incredible.
“Girls were over the moon if he kissed them on the cheek.”
Speaking about Tiger Lily, she said: “I haven’t seen her for years.
“She has only been out here to Australia once since Michael died when Bob bought her out.
“I don’t know how to contact her any more.”
She added: “I think the situation is disgusting but that’s the type of man Bob is.
“I actually heard he was sending her to boarding school but I don’t know how true that is.
“Maybe she’s better off at a boarding school if she can’t come to Australia.”
She added: “Of course it would help me if I see her.
“More than anything, I want to see her one last time.
“It’s hard enough missing Michael so much – but I have lost her, too.
“She has biological family and I am her biological grandmother.
“I don’t know why Sir Bob has created this situation. It’s hard to understand.
“I won’t continue arguing with Sir Bob about this. I’m too tired to fight now.”
She said she had accepted Michael did commit suicide by hanging himself in Sydney’s Ritz Carlton hotel but “there was a reason for it”.
“I know he killed himself but there was a reason for it.
“His daughter had been taken away from him,” she said.
Patricia said her daughter, Tina, Michael’s step sister, now lives in America while his brother, Rhett, lives in Byron Bay, a couple of hours’ drive from her home.
“It’s good to treat his birthday as a normal day,” she said.
“Of course we’ll miss Michael and we’ll remember him in our own, private way.”
She said she didn’t know that INXS were about to embark on a world tour, starting in Vancouver, Canada, for the Winter Olympics.
“I never hear from them. They don’t keep in touch.
“Good luck to them going on tour.
“They’re probably a bit old to be going on the road though.
“Being in there 50s is quite an age to be traveling the world performing.”
She said she was also thrilled by a Facebook campaign to get Michael’s INXS song Don’t Change to number one around the world.
“I hope it happens, I really do,” she said.
Michael’s INXS bandmates today paid tribute to the singer by posting individual messages on the band’s website.
Guitarist Kirk Pengilly, 51, wrote: “If he were alive today, he would have had the biggest and the best 50th birthday party.
“Michael loved and embraced life in every direction.
“So here’s to you mate. See you when I see you.”
