In what may be a tragic repetition of history for her family, Peaches Geldof — the 25-year-old British star recently found dead of a cause not readily apparent — reportedly died after overdosing on heroin.
Peaches Geldof was the daughter of British rocker Bob Geldof and wife Paula Yates. In 2000, when Peaches was just 11, Yates died of a heroin overdose at the age of 41.
Subsequent investigation revealed that Yates’ infrequent and unskilled drug use likely led to her death, with a coroner ruling the lethal dose to be “foolish and incautious” and the deceased to have been “an unsophisticated taker of heroin.”
Unlike the recent drug-related death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, police at the scene were circumspect about what might have killed Peaches Geldof. While initial media reports in the Hoffman case leaked lurid details of the star’s death, police in Geldof’s hometown of Kent indicated that the presenter’s passing was being treated as “unexpected and sudden,” and no speculative comments regarding the manner of her death were offered.
At the time, father Bob Geldof released a grief-stricken statement, saying :
“Peaches has died. We are beyond pain… She was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us… Writing ‘was’ destroys me afresh. What a beautiful child. How is this possible that we will not see her again? How is that bearable?”
Geldof soberly concluded:
“We loved her and will cherish her forever. How sad that sentence is.”
Mother to two small sons herself, Peaches Geldof spoke in 2012 about her own mom’s overdose death, admitting:
“… we all went to school and tried to act as if nothing had happened. But it had happened. I didn’t grieve. I didn’t cry at her funeral. I couldn’t express anything because I was just numb to it all. I didn’t start grieving for my mother properly until I was maybe 16.”
Reports out of British press outlets indicate that tomorrow, initial confirmation of Peaches Geldof’s cause of death will officially be made, and the Independent reports :
“The Times said the results will be announced by Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham during a brief hearing in Gravesend, Kent, this afternoon. Police used drugs sniffer dogs during the search of the house and examined the contents of rubbish bags.”
According to the outlet, Geldof may have fallen victim to a lowered tolerance to drugs — reportedly having given up such pursuits after the births of her young sons. She’s quoted as having said previously:
“… I was living a chaotic lifestyle. But now I have the kids I can heal the situation. It’s so good in every single way, really.”
Peaches Geldof’s cause of death was confirmed through toxicology testing and not evidence at the scene, the paper indicates.
