MICHAEL CARABOTT
The mother of deceased Welsh TV presenter Paula Yates has made a startling revelation in her latest book; she says that former Prime Minister George Borg Olivier fell for her and proposed marriage.
Mrs Thornton is the author of Cat Chat, Catahy and others.
The stunning revelation came in Mrs Thornton’s eulogy to the relationship between herself and her daughter Paula, who died in 2000, in the book Big Girls Don’t Cry – soon to hit the bookshelves.
Paula Yates was one of Britain’s best-loved stars, but inherited much of her mother’s strange ways, so much so that the second line in the book is: The Wild and Wicked World of Paula Yates’ mother.
The Daily Mirror in the UK continued with its current trend of printing excerpts of projected best sellers and reproduced small parts of Mrs Thornton’s book last week.
The excerpts printed were mainly related to her sexual conquests – and the attentions of Dr Borg Olivier were not left out.
In her book, she speaks about her flings with various men, such as singer Tom Jones, Jess Yates the presumed father of her daughter, who was subsequently found out not to be. In fact, it was Hughie Green, a man Paula Yates publicly said she loathed. Another conquest included speed freak Donald Campbell, who later died while attempting to set a water speed record in the UK.
In the book, one chapter is entitled: “Wooed by a prime minister.” She writes: “My strangest proposal of marriage came from a foreign Prime Minister. The first time we met, I had no idea who he was. He visited an exhibition of my paintings when I lived with Paula in Malta after leaving Jess.
“He entered as if he owned the place, looked around and bought two pictures. As he left, he missed his footing and fell. I told him: ‘It’s a disgrace that the government can’t light all the streets’.”
She wrote that he looked hard at her, then walked to his car and was driven away.
But, in typical Maltese fashion, he was not to be outdone. Mrs Thornton recounts: “The next day, there was work going on in the street and the neighbours came to thank me for getting the Prime Minister to install lights after their campaign had failed.”
She continued: “Prime Minister George Borg Olivier, who had led Malta to independence, continued his interest in me. He was a gentleman, intelligent but a little bit irreverent. I enjoyed his company, but when he began talking of marriage, I knew it was time to leave Malta. He was already married, but separated at that time and so was I.”
Paula Yates died in 2000 after several years of suffering from serious depression that led to suicide attempts. She finally paid for her lifestyle when she overdosed on heroin.
Paula Yates had to learn survival skills early in life to attract the attention of two self-absorbed and neglectful parents. Her mother dreamed of being a film star and set her daughter an example of seductive and manipulative female glamour. Her supposed father suffered from depression.
Helene Thornton – who dreamed of being a movie star, taught Paula what she regarded as the consuming importance of attracting men as she trailed Paula behind through hotel rooms in pursuit of the latest lover.
When she went through a hippie period in Majorca, Paula was dragged along and began experimenting with boys and drugs.
Later in life, she shocked the young Bob Geldof, who she married eventually, with her advances. She later had a relationship with former INXS front man Michael Hutchence who committed suicide in 1997, and that sent her into a long downward spiral.
Her behaviour got more bizarre and she lost custody of her children after being found in possession of narcotics. She was found dead in her Notting Hill home on 17 September 2000. Makes you wonder what else goes on in this country… we always hear such revelations years down the line. I just hope I’m still around in 20 years’ time to find out more about people.