Live Aid's Bob Geldof felt ‘responsible' after tragic daughter death and how he gets 'respite' from his sorrow

Wales Online

12-07-2025

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Sir Bob Geldof is a name that we all recognise, whether that was for his vocals as a member of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, or perhaps for his fundraising work organising the charity supergroup Band Aid.
He later organised the charity concert Live Aid which is celebrating a 40 year anniversary in 2025 and Live 8 which took place in 2005, all of which were to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. However, you may not know about Sir Bob's difficult family history, after losing one of his daughters to a heroin overdose in 2014.
The political activist has spoken openly to the media about his grief, and questioning whether or not he was responsible. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter .
Peaches Geldof was the second daughter of Bob and the Welsh television presenter and writer Paula Yates, the first daughter being Fifi Trixibelle Geldof. Peaches was a model, journalist and TV presenter who presented her own documentary programmes and frequently wrote magazine columns.
When she was just 11-years-old, her mother died of a heroin overdose in 2000 at the age of 41. In a 2013 interview with Elle magazine, she explained how difficult the process of coming to terms with her mother's death was:
She said: "I remember the day my mother died, and it's still hard to talk about it. I just blocked it out. I went to school the next day because my father's mentality was 'keep calm and carry on'. So 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."
(Image: Mirrorpix)
Just 14 years later, at 25-years-old unfortunately Peaches faced a much similar fate leaving behind two young sons, Astala and Phaedra.
Peaches was discovered deceased by her husband Tom Cohen at their residence in Wrotham, Kent, on April 7, 2014. An inquest found that the cause of her death was opioid intoxication, and recorded a verdict of drug-related death, however there was no evidence to suggest it was deliberate.
At the time, the Boomtown Rats frontman and campaigner expressed his torment, saying he "goes over and over and over" what he could have done to aid the mother of two.
In an interview with ITV News, he described his daughter as "super bright" but "frantic" in her personal life.
"You blame yourself," Sir Bob Geldof confessed. "You're the father who is responsible and clearly failed."
He continued: "For anybody watching, who has a dead kid and you're a parent, you go back, you go back, you go over, you go over. What could you have done? You do as much as you can."
(Image: PA)
He mentioned that press criticism of his daughters following the demise of their mother Paula Yates in 2000 had also "damaged" them.
When questioned if he was aware of his daughter's drug dependency, he acknowledged: "Of course I knew about it and we did more than talk about it, yeah. She was super bright. Too bright.
"But the rest was a franticness. She knew what life was supposed to be and God bless her, she tried very hard to get there. And she didn't make it."
Sir Bob revealed that performing with the Boomtown Rats offers him a respite from the sorrow of losing his daughter. He explained: "It is utterly cathartic. Those two hours and I am drained. In every sense it empties, it drains my mind.
"On stage I'm lost in this thing and it's a very brief respite. ".
The Boomtown Rats are celebrating their 50th anniversary and once again touring following their performance on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny on New Year's Eve. This includes a UK tour, some European dates and several festivals. You can find more here.