Tiger Lily must deal with her tragic past without the support of her loving half-sister Peaches (2024)

It is more tragedy than anyone deserves.

She was 16 months old when her father, Michael Hutchence, was found dead in a Double Bay hotel room. When she was four, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence was home when her mother overdosed and died of heroin.

She was caught in between a bitter feud between her adoptive father Bob Geldof and her real father's family.

Now, just months shy of her 18th birthday, Tiger, as she is known to her family, has lost her beloved older sister.

The death of Peaches Geldof at just 25 is tragic. She has spoken about the pain of growing up without a mother. Her two young sons, Astala and Phaedra will now endure the same fate. Peaches also leaves behind a husband, Thomas Cohen, whom she appeared to adore.

Her Instagram and Twitter accounts do not depict the wild lifestyle one might have expected from a wealthy 25-year-old whose father is rock royalty and whose husband is a singer.

Instead, although she has admitted to dabbling in the rock 'n' roll world of drugs and parties, they depict a young woman besotted by her family.

Of more than 4000 photos uploaded to her account, the overwhelming majority are of her young sons, her husband and their pet dogs at home in countryside Kent.

Dotted among the snapshots of those she loved most are shots of Tiger.

Protected by her famous family from the public eye, these personal pictures are largely the only ones we've seen of Tiger in recent years.

Tiger is said to be exceptionally close to her sisters, Peaches, Pixie and Fifi Trixibelle. The primary reason Sir Bob Geldof was awarded custody, instead of her aunt, Tina Hutchence, was to keep her with her sisters.

At the time Geldof was awarded custody, in 2000, Tiger's grandfather Kel said: "We are delighted. We feel she should be with her sisters.

"Bob is very pleased. He feels it is the best possible outcome. We are thrilled because it is the best thing for Tiger. This little girl has never been happier. She has got her sisters and has wonderful extended family connections."

At the time, Geldof vowed to keep the "absolutely adorable" Tiger Lily away from the dark trappings of fame.

Friends of the Geldofs are quoted as saying Tiger has blossomed into a "beautifully polite and lovely young lady".

Her uncle Rhett Hutchence recently added of his niece: "She's extremely beautiful and stylish, charming to be around, and she's very much into music and acting, just like her dad."

This is, undoubtedly, a devastating time for Tiger, along with the rest of her family.

Bob Geldof, in his tribute to Peaches on Tuesday, spoke of a "family, fractured so often, but never broken".

We can only hope that, for Tiger, the tight bond of her fractured family will be bolstered and her grounded upbringing amid the tumult has laid a steady foundation.

"Tiger has watched Peaches go through hell by throwing ­herself out there as Paula’s daughter," a friend was recently quoted by The Mirror as saying.

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"The girls talk a lot, they are very honest and open with each other.