Edwina’s country retreat LOCATION
When will Tiger Lily get As she turns 21, rumour has it she may finally see her dad’s fortune
There’s no doubt Edwina Bartholomew’s 1890s sandstone farmhouse in rural Capertee Valley – which she shares with her fiance Neil Varcoe – is her pride and joy. The Sunrise presenter has even dedicated an Instagram page to showing off the renovations the pair have made to the home since buying it in 2016.
“I’ve been collecting things for my home since I was about 12 or 13, and when Neil moved in, he bought along mementos from his life too, so our home is a real mixx of both of us,” says Edwina,, who also owns a two-bedroom edroom unit in Sydney’s s Woollahra. We’re bigig fans of the standaloneone bath and wool-classing assing table!
She was just 16 months old when her dad, iconic Aussie musician Michael Hutchence, died suddenly. And speculation has raged ever since as to when Tiger Lily Hutchence will receive the money friends are certain the INXS frontman would have left to his only child.
Now, with Tiger’s 21st birthday this week, it’s sparked renewed interest in Michael’s financial decisions all those years ago.
And while many were sure Tiger would come into his fortune at 18, now it’s thought 21 may be the magic number to unlock the trust Michael left in place to protect his millions.
TRAGIC START
Sources close to the Hutchence family tell Woman’s Day they have worried ever since they lost 37-year-old Michael in 1997 what would happen with his daughter’s financial future.
But one friend says they left any decisions about Michael’s estate in the hands of his girlfriend and Tiger Lily’s mother, Paula Yates.
“Michael’s family were always concerned about the money but Paula wasn’t so they thought, ‘What are we fighting for? We’ll leave it in the estate’s hands,’ ” a family friend tells Woman’s Day exclusively.
However, when Paula died at the age of 41 in what was thought to be an accidental heroin overdose – Tiger was just four – that sense of security was quickly whipped away.
As Tiger went to live with Paula’s ex husband, singer Bob Geldof and her half-sisters Fifi, Peaches and Pixie in London, the Hutchence family found themselves left in the dark as to what was planned for Michael’s fortune. And it’s a position they’re still very much in today.
“They don’t even know who the people controlling the estate are,” says the family friend. “Will the money be there for Tiger when it says it will be? They don’t know what the magic number is that will open up the treasure chest so to speak – it wasn’t 18, so could it be 21?”
RICH ON ROYALTIES
With musicians still recording their own versions of Michael’s famous songs, our source says the family are sure the royalties won’t have stopped rolling in following the iconic singer’s apparent suicide nearly 20 years ago.
“Michael would never have signed away the rights to his songs,” adds our source. “He always said, ‘Why would I do that? It’s my bread and butter.’ ”
Regardless of whether or not she receives her trust fund on her milestone birthday on July 22, for now it seems Tiger is happily making her own way in the world.
As well as modelling, she’s taken up work on the other side of the camera. A budding photographer, Tiger has been working with celebrity snapper Rankin – who was the co-founder of Dazed & Confused magazine alongside Kate Moss’s ex Jefferson Hack – on his latest magazine project, Hunger.
“It’s very impressive at her age to get work like that, especially as it’s her first gig,” says a magazine insider.
And it seems Tiger is very much a mature and thoughtful young woman as she reaches her 21st birthday. She’s now working under the name Tiger Lily Geldof Hutchence, a sweet nod to Bob, who has raised her as his own since she was orphaned in 2000.
HAPPIER TIMES
Incredibly close to her sisters, Tiger was said to be devastated when Peaches – Paula and Bob’s second daughter – passed away in eerily similar circumstances to their mother in 2014. But Bob, 65, and his wife Jeanne Marine, 51, managed to pull their family together once again through tragedy and all of them, including Tiger, were on hand to celebrate 26-year-old Pixie’s wedding last month.
‘He’d never have signed away the rights to his songs’