TARA ‘I just wanted to make my family proud again...’ of me
THE LAST INTERVIEW
TREASURED MEMORIES
Picture of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson posted by her sister on Twitter
FALLEN society superstar Tara Palmer-Tomkinson broke down in tears as she spoke of her longing to make her family proud of her again just two weeks before she died.
Overcome with emotion, Tara – who took the 1990s by storm as the It Girl repeated the words three times during her last ever interview. But her wish was never to come true. Ailing Tara, whose beauty and sparkling personality had captivated all who knew her, died on Wednesday.
Her family revealed she passed away “peacefully and in her sleep.” She was aged just 45.
Referring to her spell in rehab for cocaine addiction, through tears Tara told Journalist Rob McGibbon said: “I’ve put them through a lot.”
He described how Tara wept as she spoke “quietly” of her desire to redeem herself. He went on: “Hearing herself say such a profoundly painful sentiment made her cry. It made me well up, too. It still does.
“Our conversation fell silent for a few beats and all I could hear was her trying to hold off the tears to continue. She repeated the answer twice.
“Those words were disarmingly revealing. They encapsulated Tara’s lasting regret for her past, but also her longing and hope for a better future.”
It was in 1999 that her problems began to surface when she checked into the Meadows Clinic at Wickenburg, Arizona, to deal with her cocaine problem. The trip followed a disastrous appearance on Frank Skinner’s chat show.
Her addiction saw the septum in her nose collapse, requiring initial corrective surgery in 2006. She returned to rehab in 2011, for anxiety and depression.
Writer Rob feared Tara might not complete the interview as she had become so upset. But he noted that “between sniffles, she valiantly said, ‘Don’t worry, I will come through’”. Asking to be remembered as “cheerful, beautiful and loved by all”, she discussed the funeral she desired.
Days earlier, she had been asked what she’d like the order of service to be.
“I don’t like funerals where everyone has a good time and gets drunk,” she said. “I want a simple service, a positive eulogy and meaningful readings.”
But the battler in her refused to give up and she vowed to “get back to full health” after suffering a brain tumour and an auto-immune condition.
During the same interview, she said Noel Harrison’s song The Windmills Of Your Mind moved her to tears, and quoted a poem written by George Frost to his father in 2014.
Quoting the poem, she recited: “To my darling children, who wonder what to do/Just have a wonderful time, as I will, living through you.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine, published today, she said she would like to be remembered “like a Bernese mountain dog – cheerful, beautiful and loved by all.”
Tara’s body was discovered by her cleaner at her beloved penthouse flat in Earls Court, West London. She described the pad, purchased 15 years ago, as her most prized possession. “It’s like a New York loft. Very rock star - it represents everything I worked for.”
In November, Tara revealed she was being treated for a non-malignant growth in her pituitary gland and added that she feared she would die.
She was diagnosed with the tumour last January after she returned from a ski trip. She was also suffering with an auto-immune disease which caused tiredness, joint pain and acute anaemia.
Tara’s close friend Ivan Massow - who had discussed having Tara as a surrogate for his children - said the socialite had looked “very thin and obviously unwell” when he last saw her a few months back.
He continued: “She had become dangerously underweight. Her body was covered with the thinnest layer of skin, her legs and arms were like little poles and her face was gaunt.
“I would try to get her to eat or even to talk about her weight, but she couldn’t be told.”
He added that despite her frail condition she had shot a pilot for a TV show, and was planning a comeback.
Tributes to her have poured in from Tara’s famous friends, including Prince Charles, and the Duchess of Cornwall who said they were “deeply saddened” by her death.
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, said her family were “shocked” by the death of “the magnificent, beautifully energetic soul of Tara.”
Yesterday Tara’s sister Santa Sebag-Montefiore and her husband Simon spent the morning cleaning the penthouse flat.
Santa, 47, arrived just before 9am with 51-yearold Simon.
Minutes later Santa could be clearly seen through the penthouse window washing-up, opening the windows as well as cleaning and drawing the blinds.
Before the couple entered the apartment, they collected two bouquets from the doorstep.
Simon left the flat at 11.30am. He said: “We have left tributes online, we don’t want to say anything.”
Santa left just after 1pm with her hand over her face and being comforted by an older man in his sixties.
Met Police are treating Tara’s death as “unexplained” but “not suspicious”.
A death notice in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph for Tara, who finished second to Tony Blackburn in the first I’m A Celeb show in 2002, read: “Tara Clare died peacefully in her sleep,” and added that a private funeral will be held.
Author Santa posted online: “My darling sister. I miss you.”
I want a simple service and a positive eulogy and readings TARA ON THE FUNERAL SHE WAS HOPING FOR