How reclusive Tiger Lily Hutchence was found living in dingy ‘squat’ as mystery swirls over fate of dad’s £40m fortune
ANYONE spying the low-key wedding reception at a restaurant in East London at the weekend would not have imagined the bride was an heiress to a supposed £40million fortune.
But when Tiger Lily Hutchence tied the knot with model Ben Archer on Saturday, she did not have her late father Michael’s inheritance to fund the celebration.
The 28-year-old daughter of the tragic INXS lead singer is said to have given up hope of ever getting her hands on the money the Australian rocker earned by selling over 55million records.
Just six years ago Tiger Lily, who found her mum Paula Yates dead from a drug overdose in 2000 when she was aged four, was described as living in a London squat.
Michael’s family tried to find out what happened to the millions he’s still earning since his death in 1997, but their whereabouts remain a complex financial mystery.
The money is reportedly tightly controlled by Michael’s accountant Colin Diamond and has been placed in a web of offshore accounts.
Diamond, in turn, has maintained that Hutchence died virtually penniless, having spent his money on partying, gifts and legal bills.
Unlike half-sister singer Pixie, 34, Tiger Lily has chosen to stay out of the limelight.
There was, though, rock ‘n’ roll royalty in attendance among the 30 select guests at the reception on Saturday.
Her adoptive dad Sir Bob Geldof and godfather Nick Cave joined the happy couple for the big day.
The Boomtown Rats singer brought Tiger Lily up after his ex-wife Paula died and funded her private education.
But he always insisted his children make their own way once they are adults.
Artist and singer Tiger Lily is certainly no longer squatting and appears to have set up home in North London with Ben, whose dad is a wealthy investment banker.
She is pregnant with the newlyweds first child and is expected to give birth soon.
A source told The Sun: “Tiger Lily and Ben are so happy together and this ceremony was just for their closest friends and family.
“It was a beautiful day and, after the service, they all sat down to have a meal together.”
Toxic power couple
Few people are more deserving of a happy ever after than Tiger Lily, whose earliest years were filled with chaos and loss.
Paula and Michael were the ultimate toxic showbusiness couple, as deeply in love as they were troubled.
Their affair began while the former Big Breakfast presenter was still married to Bob, the father of her three eldest daughters Fifi, 41, Pixie and Peaches, who died aged 25 from a drug overdose in 2014.
Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily’s arrival in 1996 was hoped to settle their often stormy relationship.
Michael’s sister Tina Hutchence said in her book Michael: My Brother, Lost Boy Of INXS in 2021: “Michael was thrilled when Paula gave birth to their daughter Tiger Lily in 1996 and he melted when he was with her.
“But Paula’s bitter custody battle with Bob started eating away at Michael.”
On top of that both Paula and Michael’s drug use was getting out of hand.
U2 singer Bono revealed that he turned down their offer to be Tiger Lily’s godparent because he couldn’t cope with their illegal substance abuse.
Paula’s bitter custody battle with Bob started eating away at Michael
Michael’s sister Tina Hutchence
In his 2022 book Bono: 40 Songs, One Story, the Irishman said: “It should have been the greatest honour when Michael and Paula called on Ali and me to ask us to be godparents to Tiger Lily.
“But we were wigged out. They were in free fall, spiralling down a vortex of recreational drug use that had become hard work for everyone.”
There were rumours that wild man Michael, whose previous lovers included supermodel Helena Christensen and Kylie Minogue, was not being faithful.
But in a 2017 documentary The Last Rockstar, Diamond said: “He was actively having fertility treatment in the UK with Paula. They were looking at having another child.
“Michael and I had discussions about them getting married in Tahiti.”
Those plans for the future cast some doubts on the official coroners verdict that Hutchence committed suicide when a maid found him hanged in his bedroom at Sydney’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
There were theories that it might have been a sex game gone wrong.
Second tragedy
What is certain is that Michael’s death at the age of 37 left Paula so distraught that she was first admitted to a psychiatric hospital in April 1998 with depression and then two months later attempted suicide.
Meanwhile, Michael’s dad Kelland launched a failed bid to get custody of Tiger Lily, who was caught up in a tug of war about her future.
Paula appeared to have given up the heroin when she settled in Hastings on the south coast with her daughter, only to relapse and die from an overdose.
It was a four-year-old Tiger Lily who tried to save her mum, 41, telling a friend over the phone that she “couldn’t wake mummy”.
At this point Bob stepped in to become Tiger Lily’s legal guardian and she found comfort with his daughters.
Shunned fame
While Pixie and Peaches were drawn to the hedonistic life of their parents, Tiger Lily shunned London’s party lifestyle.
Having tried acting at a college in New York she graduated from Goldsmiths College in South East London.
In 2019 she got away from it all by moving to bohemian Fremantle in West Australia and dated former Tame Impala bassist Nick Allbrook, 37.
During that time Tiger Lily started to write and perform her own music in Perth, before releasing an album titled Tragic Tiger’s Sad Meltdown in 2022.
She said of the record: “Most of the songs are about my sister, Peaches, who I lost as a teenager, so singing them aloud felt very potent, but my band always made me feel held.”
There were rumours that the pair were going to get hitched, but she had split up with Nick by 2023.
By this time she should reportedly have received three lump sums of £12 million each from Michael’s estate.
The last one should have landed in her bank account three years ago when Tiger Lily turned 25.
But when documentary maker Richard Lowenstein spoke to her in 2019, she laughed at him when he said “maybe it’s still going to come to you.”
Tiger Lily told him she’d “given up on that now. It’s literally gone.”
Speaking to the Herald Sun, he added: “I met up with Tiger for dinner in London. We went to her flat to watch the documentary and it was like a little squat.
“I said, “Where’s the money from your dad’s estate?” and she said, ‘I’ve never received anything from anyone. I had a meeting once with an accountant that was so bad I didn’t want to do it again’.”
It should have been the greatest honour when Michael and Paula called on Ali and me to ask us to be godparents to Tiger Lily. But we were wigged out
Bono
When Tiger Lily previously met her late father’s accountant he allegedly handed her an envelope containing £500 and told her “there you go, that will tide you over.”
Her reluctance to pursue the matter through the courts probably has something to do with the experience of Michael’s other relatives.
His mum Patricia, dad Kelland and sister took legal action against Michael’s accountant Diamond.
In 2005 the case revealed that the money from Michael’s song rights did not belong to the singer at the time of his death.
He had them invested in various tax havens in order to prevent anyone else getting their hand on the money.
While Michael, who owned houses in London, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Australia, was alive he is said to have spent the rest of his fortune on a lavish lifestyle and gifts.
That meant there was little or nothing left for Tiger Lily.
She won’t have made much money from her debut album, but this month she did exhibit some of her artwork at a gallery in St Leonards-on-Sea, which neighbours Hastings in East Sussex.
The gallery’s description of her art says: “Tiger is a musician and art psychotherapist, her work combines the investigation of maternal nature and roles with her own strength and playfulness.
“Tiger’s pastel works and paintings are meditative investigations, grounded in understanding.”
New chapter
With Bob being worth a reported £70million and her new in-laws owning a huge country pile in Herefordshire, Tiger Lily might not need the money from her deceased dad’s will after all.
Having met Ben in 2023 she had grown close to his family who a source said were refreshingly “normal.”
Tiger Lily and Ben spent part of the summer on holiday in Italy with his mum and dad.
Now they are looking forward to becoming parents for the first time.
The source told The Sun: “This is a huge year for Tiger Lily and Ben because they’re becoming parents. Getting married in front of their nearest and dearest was the cherry on top for them.”