U2 frontman Bono ended his friendship with late singer Michael Hutchence because of his drug use.
The U2 star reflected on his decision to cut ties with the INXS frontman before his tragic death in 1997, as Michael and his partner Paula Yates - who died three years later, spiralled into addiction.
INXS sold over 75 million records worldwide and were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001.
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Bono and his wife Ali Hewson were close to Michael and Paula in the early 1990s.
In an excerpt from his book 'Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story’, Bono opened up on their rocky friendship, and said: "As their behaviour changed, our friendship became strained and we grew uncomfortable during their visits."
Bono recounts the early days of Hutchence’s relationship with Yates, which started in 1994 – while Yates was still married to Bono’s close friend, Bob Geldof.
Bono wrote: “Paula worshipped Michael at a time when he needed all the adoration he could get, things not going well on - and offstage for INXS.”
When the couple welcomed daughter Tiger Lily, now 26, into the world, they asked Bono and Ali to be her godparents, but they refused because they were "so wigged out" by their lifestyle, and it ended their friendship, The Daily Mail reported.
He also says Ali and him had a sense that the relationship was “going to go wrong, and that this intensity could not last a lifetime”.
Bono writes, the couple were in “free fall – spiralling down the vortex of a recreational drug use that had become hard work for everyone, especially their family, especially the younger ones”.
Hutchence had a string of love affairs with prominent actresses, models and singers.
According to People, Hutchence's "public brawls and onetime open drug use led London tabloids to dub him the 'wild man of rock.'"
The INXS singer was also romantically linked to Kylie Minogue for a period, between 1989 to 1991.
In a candid interview, Kylie opened up about her relationship with Hutchence.
In never-seen-before footage from the film Mystify: Michael Hutchence, Minogue says: "Sex, love, food, drugs, music, travel, books, you name it, he wanted to experience it."
She added: "As his partner I got to experience a lot of that as well. If you're a sensual being, all of your senses need stimulation. He definitely awakened my desire for things in my world."
On November 22, 1997, a maid found Michael Hutchence deceased behind the door of his Sydney hotel room at about 11.50am.
A coroner ruled the 37-year-old musician had died by suicide.
The frontman's partner Paula Yates, whom was also the mother of Peaches and Pixie Geldof, died three years later from a heroin overdose.
After Michael's heart-breaking death in 1997, U2 famously recorded the song Stuck In A Moment in tribute to Michael.
In a documentary reflecting on his life in 2019, Bono said: "It really bothers me that he didn’t really understand how great a voice he had, it had this fragility underneath the bravado.”
“I remember asking Michael what his definition of rock’n’roll was, he said 'liberation'."
* HSE Drugs & Alcohol Helpline
This confidential service has both a freephone Helpline (1800 459 459) and an email support service (helpline@hse.ie)
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