Rupert Everett proposed to Paula Yates during six year fling behind Bob Geldof’s back, claims former PA

PAULA Yates "absolutely loved" Rupert Everett and he even proposed to her during their six-year fling while she was still married to Bob Geldof, The Sun can reveal.
On last night's Piers Morgan's Life Stories, the 61-year-old actor, now openly gay, admitted to the affair and said he simply "ignored" the Live Aid organiser because he didn’t need to feel guilty.
Rupert explained: "We were very, very close, I must say, for a long time, and she’s someone that I adored and still do.
"I think I was in love with her. I adored her."
He went on to tell Piers that Bob knew about the affair, and when quizzed on whether he felt guilty about it, the actor replied: "I don’t know, I think it would be for her to feel guilty, not me."
In an exclusive interview, the tragic TV presenter’s former PR and close friend Gerry Agar-Fennell reveals that Rupert may have been The One.
At one point, Paula - who died of a heroin overdose in 2000 at the age of 41 - "seriously" considered dumping her husband for the more "genteel and romantic" actor, as living with touring rock star Bob was like being with a "long-distance lorry driver".
Gerry says: "They were absolutely having a full blown, passionate in every way, affair. I think she was in love with Rupert.
"If Rupert wasn’t gay, he would probably have been the one she chose to run off with.
"I know that she adored him and they saw each other constantly. It was a meeting of minds, they were incredibly close. She talked about Rupert a lot.
"Paula was very well read, like Rupert, and they would read to each other - books and poetry. Paula could recite paragraphs from classics, as Rupert also can.
"I know she loved his company. She never said one faltering word against him and, in her library of books, she pointed out a few books he gave her and reminisced about ‘those days’. Byron, she mentioned to me, were Rupert’s favourites."
In her book, ‘Paula, Michael & Bob: Everything You Know Is Wrong’, Gerry recounts a conversation with Paula about Rupert proposing: "Rupert was genteel, warm, sensitive and very romantic.
"He made Paula feel special, interesting, and wanted again. Rupert had apparently announced that Paula was the only woman he had ever fallen in love with. ‘I cherished him,’ said Paula.
"Enough to think very seriously about leaving Bob. Going out with a rock star was a bit like 'living with a long-distance lorry driver,’ she said. ‘Did Rupert really ask you to marry him?’ I asked.
"Paula laughingly replied, ‘I was pretty sure it was a proposal at the time, though he was treading the boards, so it was difficult to gauge whether he was in character or in Rupert.
"I can remember through the fog of the drama, a lot of getting down on one knee to re-enact Shakespeare’s premier love scenes'."
Gerry tells The Sun: "Michael [INXS singer Michael Hutchence] didn’t match her intellect. He looked up to her intellect and breadth of knowledge on literature. Bob wasn’t even her equal in that regard. Rupert was her equal.
"Rupert was like a brother, best friend, playmate, kind, loving, intelligent, well-read, naughty. He made her really, really laugh and vice versa.
"But I don’t think she could really ever contemplate leaving Bob. Rupert probably knew that too. I don’t think she trusted the marriage intent enough to take the plunge.
"Rupert was very, very young in terms of maturity and finding out who he was.
"I’ve been in the same boat once, madly in love with someone who was gay. You can’t do anything about it. We discussed that Paula and I, and she agreed.
"She knew and accepted it. I had a feeling that it was him that ended it. Paula longed for security. She was looking for someone to replace Bob. She needed to be with someone, she was not good on her own at all.
"She wanted to be someone’s only one. Ironic she chose Michael."
Most read in Celebrity
"These sort of stories were not unusual from her. It just fizzled out, he was one of many men, who had crushes on her."
Rupert became romantically involved with Paula after they met in 1982.
Read More on The Sun
They continued their affair following the breakdown of Paula's marriage in 1986.
She died in September 2000 following a tragic heroin overdose.