U2 frontman Bono reveals the TRAGIC reason for ending friendship with INXS' Michael Hutchence
In his recently published memoir, U2 frontman Bono discusses his friendship with Michael Hutchence and explained the sad reason he severed ties with the late INXS singer. Bono recalls his turbulent association with Hutchence and his companion Paula Yates in the early 1990s in an excerpt from his book 'Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story' published by Apple News. The friendship between Hutchence and Yates, which began in 1994 while Yates was still married to Bono's close friend Bob Geldof, is documented by Bono.
According to Daily Mail, Bono wrote, “Paula worshipped Michael at a time when he needed all the adoration he could get, things not going well on- and offstage for INXS.” The Irish rocker, 62, stated that in the early 1990s, he and his wife Ali Hewson were friendly with Hutchence and his companion Paula Yates. Hutchence and Yates, however, "spiraled down the vortex of a recreational drug usage that had become hard work for everyone, especially their family, especially the younger ones," and this is when things started to shift. “As their behavior changed, our friendship became strained and we grew uncomfortable during their visits,” Bono remarked.
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In 1996, Yates and Hutchence gave birth to a girl they called Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence. They wanted Bono and his wife to be her godparents, but they declined since Hutchence and Yates' extensive drug usage had "wigged" them out. They hoped their rejection of such a meaningful offer would make the new parents think twice about the path they were on. “True friendship meant being truthful. Friendship is not a sentimental business,” Bono remarked. However, their disapproval simply served to distance the two couples even more from one another. "It only made them think again about us," Bono claims.
Hutchence, 37, died by suicide in a Sydney hotel room in November 1997, and Yates, 41, overdosed on drugs in September 2000, leaving behind four children. Bono notes, “Neither of us dreamed they’d both end up dead so soon. Even now, I can’t believe I’ve just written that.” The U2 singer claims that Hutchence's tragic experience led him to realize that there is no glamour in a rock star passing away at a young age. Bono concluded with the words he received once from one of his close friends, Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, who once told to Bono, “We don’t want to die stupid, choking on our own vomit, falling asleep in a swimming pool. I like my heroes to be alive. I like them to grow old.”