A LIFE IN EXCESS: THE REAL MICHAEL HUTCHENCE; Nothing was out of bounds, threesomes, foursomes .. he was a dangerous boy. He did everything.
TRAGIC TV presenter Paula Yates has told of the extraordinary sex life which she believes destroyed her lover Michael Hutchence.INXS singer Hutchence - found naked in a Sydney hotel room with a leather belt hanging from the door - was ruled to have committed suicide.
But Paula insists his November, 1997, death was the result of a strange sex game that went horribly wrong.
She lifts the lid on her two-year relationship with one of rock's true wild men and his torrid sexual tastes in tonight's C4 documentary In Excess: The Death of Michael Hutchence (10pm).
The programme also features astonishing claims that Hutchence once made love to Kylie Minogue on a jet in full view of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
Paula, 38, mother of Hutchence's child Tiger Lily, goes on to reveal how he:
WAS fascinated by auto erotic asphyxiation - where people strangle themselves to the point of unconsciousness in search of thrills.
CHOKED, strangled and tied Paula up in bed as part of their wild romps.
BELIEVED there was absolutely nothing "out of bounds" when it came to sex.
LAUNCHED his affair with Paula by making love to her 30 minutes after she interviewed him for her regular slot on The Big Breakfast.
Paula says: "He was a dangerous boy. Dangerous. Wild. He could have done anything at any time.
"I can't think of anything really out of bounds. Dogs, maybe. No, he didn't have anything that wouldn't have seemed acceptable. Threesomes, foursomes - whatever."
PAULA adds: "Michael thought I was a kind of combination of someone who wore baby-doll nighties but, at the same time, had a lot of children. He liked that idea that he could have everything."
She also reveals that Michael often talked about auto-erotic asphyxiation and said he would like to try it but was scared that it would kill one of them.
Asked if Michael ever choked or tied her up in bed, Paula replies with a laugh: "Yeah, he did everything. `He certainly would have done all manner of things just to try it."'
Elsewhere in the programme, Rhett Hutchence described his brother as "an explorer". "He tried many different kinds of sex, such as twosomes, threesomes, foursomes and what not - whatever was going."
Friend Nick Egan also tells how the singer used prostitutes in London's King's Cross red light area and claims that Michael was always in a state of "sexuality".
"He would have put himself in a position with a rather unattractive-looking prostitute from King's Cross without thinking about it because it was perverse, it was dirty and risque."
Egan also claims Michael once made love to former soap star Kylie Minogue aboard a plane: "It was on Quantas - he and Kylie were having sex but on the seat rather than in the toilet.
"She's so small that he put a blanket over her and they were having sex and two rows ahead was the Australian Premier Bob Hawke who happened to look round and catch a look back. He gave them a wink in the middle of the act.
"That's the sort of thing Kylie probably wouldn't have done a couple of years beforehand.
"Knowing Michael, there was always something other than the straight missionary position.
"There may have been hidden cameras in the room. There may have been another person involved.
"There may have been two other people involved. There may have been three girls and him. I mean, I know, all that kind of stuff happened.''
Forensic science experts, including leading authority on auto-erotic asphyxiation Professor Stephen Hucker, have backed Paula's claim that Michael didn't take his own life. Hutchence was said to be depressed because of the delays in the custody battle with Paula and her former husband, Sir Bob Geldof.
However, the documentary claims that the hotel room contained a number of clues that indicated that Hutchence - who was surrounded by pictures of Paula - was involved in a sex game at the time of his death.
Professor Hucker says: "He was in the nude so that was very suggestive of an auto-erotic fatality. That's the strongest clue of all.
"When the pathologist said there was no evidence, he actually had the strongest evidence - the nudity."
During his highly emotional final night at Sydney's Ritz Carlton Hotel, the singer made distraught phone calls to his manager in New York, to an ex-girlfriend and to Bob.
He appeared distressed about Paula and Bob's long-running battle over their children - Fifi, 16, Peaches, eight and seven-year-old Pixie.
DETECTIVES later discovered a belt hanging on the back of the door while Hutchence's body was found kneeling with his arms resting on his legs.
Medical officers also found traces of semen on his leg.
But Paula's insistence that Hutchence died during a sex game has embroiled her in a furious family feud with her lover's father Kell.
Wealthy businessman Kell insists his son did not die the way she suggests. But Paula argues: "The whole scenario of being naked and not leaving a note are two of the things that I find most revealing about all this.
"Michael would have hated to be found naked, to have lost his dignity.
" He had lots of dignity, no matter what was happening. So to be just found on the floor naked? No."
Given the evidence, Paula says that she was dumbfounded when the coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.
"I just couldn't believe it. I just went into shock that there was so much conflicting evidence and so much evidence pointing towards something entirely different.
"I couldn't beliebe that there wasn't an open verdict.
"Basically I don't agree with a word the coroner said - or how he worded it." Paula believes that if Hutchence had committed suicide, he would have done things differently: "He would have dressed. He would have written a note. He would have done it as a ritual.
"That's if he'd ever thought of killing himself - which I don't believe he'd ever have done. Especially not with his responsibility to me and Tiger, which he took so seriously.
"So to be found naked and just found like that, he must have been doing something else."
In the the hour-long programme, Paula says that she wants to get to the truth for the sake of their daughter Tiger Lily.
"I want her to have some vision of her father that is true. He would never, ever take a cowardly way out or left her. Lots of people do these things. It went wrong but it's no big deal what he did. I just want it to stop being made grubby."
Paula relives the moment she heard of Michael's death.
SHE says: "My friend Belinda came round to my house in the middle of the night and told me. I punched her straight in the face and then went berserk.
"Apparently, they could hear me screaming right across Chelsea."
Two days later she arrived in Sydney on a flight from London.
Paula and her daughter visited Glebe mortuary where her lover's body was taken for a post-mortem.
Paula recalls: "I remember being at the mortuary but mainly just being so stupid thinking I could wake him up. And then I did things - I washed him..." Paula also refers to comparisons that had been made between herself and Hutchence's former girlfriend supermodel Helena Christensen: "Every time anyone said anything about me, it drove Michael mad with anger and frustration.
"The `How can you leave a supermodel for a fat housewife?' line was peddled endlessly, endlessly, endlessly."
Michael's concern for Paula's feelings was in marked contrast to his own devil-may-care attitude about himself. Friends describe how, apart from pursuing sexual thrills, he had a love of risk and excitement.
Nick Egan alleges that Hutchence and a girlfriend had a dangerous experience after taking drugs: "He liked to tell the story of when he was with a girl out in the country and they had taken this liquid ecstasy. They were with this guy who was some kind of hooray in England and a marksman.
THE girl was sniffing a rose and the guy shot it right from under her so it blew up in her face. Michael got a certain thrill and fear from that."
Another pal describes a typically mad Hutchence moment. Greg Perano says: "He had a kind of nihilist streak that I saw.
"One night we were riding on his motorbike in the parking lot and seeing how close we could come to walls. We had three people on the bike and I looked in Michael's eyes and you could see that if he rode into the wall and killed himself, it wouldn't have worried him." Brother Rhett also reveals that Michael had once indicated to his manager Martha Troup that he had tried auto-erotic asphyxiation before.
Rhett says: "From what I'd heard, Michael was in the Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles, in his room with Martha. He looked over and said: `Martha, I'm going to get in trouble.'
"Martha said: `What do you mean?' and he pointed up to the air-conditioning duct. He had screwed one of those sort of ring bolt screw things into the duct. She looked at him but he didn't say what it was, or what it was for, or anything."
But Rhett says he saw one of these bolts - it was in the police inventory of items found in the hotel room just after Michael died.
Michael would've hated to have been found naked on the floor in that way, to have lost his dignity
The interview with him on The Big Breakfast, was that pre or post sex?
...Pre, by about half an hour
He saw me as someone who wore baby-doll nighties but had lots of kids. He liked the idea of having it all
He was having sex on the plane with Kylie when the Australian PM turned round and caught them
- NICK EGAN
He would get so angry when he was asked how he could leave a
supermodel for a fat housewife
He was found in the nude and that's the strongest clue of all. It suggests an auto-erotic fatality
- PROF STEPHEN HUCKER
I want Tiger Lily to have some vision of her father. He'd never have taken the cowardly way out.
You could see in his eyes that he wasn't worried if he smashed his motorbike into the wall and died
- GREG PERANO
It went wrong but it is no big deal what he did. I just want it to stop being made to sound grubby
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| Title Annotation: | Features |
|---|---|
| Author: | Scott, James |
| Publication: | The Mirror (London, England) |
| Date: | Aug 17, 1999 |
| Words: | 1756 |
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