Bob Geldof has admitted that he blames himself for daughter Peaches’ death from a drug overdose earlier this year.
The 25-year-old was found dead by her husband Tom Cohen at their home in Wrotham in April, with an inquest later finding that she had been killed by an overdose of high-purity heroin.
In a new interview with ITV News, Geldof revealed that he see himself as “the father who is responsible and clearly failed” and constantly replays the months leading up to Peaches’ death to see if could have done anything differently. He added that the intense media coverage of their childhood had “damaged” his daughters.
“For anybody watching, who has a dead kid and you’re a parent. You go back, you go back, you go back, you go back, you go back, you go over, you go over. What could you have done? You do as much as you can,” he said.
While Peaches had a history of drug use, it had appeared that she had overcome her demons following the birth of sons Astala (2) and Phaedra (1).
However, the television presenter began using heroin again shortly before her death and Geldof said that he and his daughter had regularly clashed over her addiction in the past.
“Course I knew about it and we did more than talk about it, yeah. She was super bright. Too bright. A very errant mind that could focus intensely on a book which she would consume and just absorb it. 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.”
