Peaches Geldof, daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates – and a media and fashion personality in her own right – has been found dead, age 25.
She leaves behind two young children, sons Astala Dylan Willow, born in 2012, and Phaedra Bloom Forever, born in 2013.
Her father Bob Geldof, the Band Aid concert organiser and musician, issued a statement to British media saying his family was “beyond pain.”
“She was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us,” he said. “What a beautiful child. How is this possible that we will not see her again How is that bearable”
Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof was found dead by ambulance officers, following a call to police reporting concern for the welfare of a woman at an address near Wrotham, Kent, south-east of London.
“At this stage, the death is being treated as unexplained and sudden,” a statement from Kent Police said.
Celebrities, including New Zealand singer Lorde, were quick to express their sorrow at the news.
In a recent interview with the UK-based Mother & Baby magazine, for which she was to be a columnist, Peaches Geldof talked about how her children were her life, The Daily Mail reported.
”I am not about to let them down, not for anyone or anything.”
The Mail reported she had said becoming a mother had healed a ”rudderless and troubled” childhood.
”Becoming a mother was like becoming me, finally,” she said.
A day before her death Peaches Geldof had posted a picture of herself, as a baby in her mother’s arms, to her Instagram account.
Me and my mum http://t.co/PNxLDVm887
— Peaches Geldof (@peaches_g) April 6, 2014
She was the second daughter of Geldof and Yates, a writer and television presenter.
Yates died in equally tragic circumstances, following aa drug overdose in 2000 when Peaches Geldof was just 11 years old.
Peaches Geldof and her siblings – older sister Fifi Trixibelle, younger sister Pixie and younger half-sister Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof – were raised in the shadow of that tragedy.
Their half-sister Tiger Lily lived with them after the death of both her father, INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, who died in 1997, and Yates.
Peaches Geldof had publicly acknowledged that she had not come to terms with her mother’s death.
“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 to keep calm and carry on,” she told Elle magazine in 2012.
“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.”
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Peaches Geldof was twice married, first to American musician Max Drummey,and then to British musician Thomas Cohen, with whom she had her two children.
Some of Peaches Geldof’s celebrity friends were quick to express their sorrow at the news.
Lily Allen wrote on Twitter: ”My thoughts are with the Geldof’s at this awful time. I hope they get to grieve in peace. Peaches, rest in peace gorgeous girl.”
Popstar Ellie Goulding said: ”I don’t believe it,” before adding: ”Even if you think you’ve got it all figured out, some things still can’t be explained or understood. Two beautiful children. RIP Peaches.”
Lorde tweeted her sadness at the news.
— Lorde (@lordemusic) April 7, 2014
– Sydney Morning Herald
