'I am not about to let my sons down, not for anyone or anything': Peaches Geldof's haunting last interview - less than a month before she was found dead

  • Socialite feared she would never have children because of fertility problems
  • She had not known she was pregnant for five months
  • Spoke of ‘unstable upbringing’ after parents Bob Geldof and Paula Yates split and how she depended on her nanny
  • Practised ‘attachment parenting’ but sometimes left crying with exhaustion
  • She praised her husband and mother-in-law for their help

Peaches Geldof spoke in her last interview of how she owed her life to her children and said: ‘I am not about to let them down, not for anyone or anything.’

She said that becoming a mother had healed a ‘rudderless and troubled’ childhood, and that she wanted everyone to know parenthood was ‘the best thing you’ve ever done’.

The interview, less than a month before her death on Monday, with Mother & Baby magazine was centred on ‘attachment parenting’ –  sleeping in the same room, preferably the same bed as the baby, as well as long-term breastfeeding.

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Family: Peaches, pictured with her sons Astala and Phaedra at Christmas last year, said her sons grounded her

Family: Peaches, pictured with her sons Astala and Phaedra at Christmas last year, said her sons grounded her

Peaches, 25, said she had cried with exhaustion and said that becoming a mother had ‘broken’ her.

The mother of Astala, 24 months and Phaedra, nearly one, told how her own experience of attachment parenting from her nanny before the divorce of her mother Paula and father Bob ‘saved me from losing it’.

She described ‘attachment parenting’ as responding to a baby's needs and building bonds through closeness and trust. And she said she received a great deal of help from Sue Cohen, mother of her husband, Tom.

‘Becoming a mother was like becoming me, finally,’ she said.

‘After years of struggling to know myself, feeling lost at sea, rudderless and troubled, having babies through which to correct the multiple mistakes of my own traumatic childhood was beyond healing.

A lovign mother: Peaches with her son Astala in April 2013, who said last month that she owed her life to her children

A lovign mother: Peaches with her son Astala in April 2013, who said last month that she owed her life to her children

‘I felt finally anchored in place, with lives that literally depend on me, and I am not about to let them down, not for anyone or anything.’

Peaches was supposed to start a regular column offering advice, based on her own experience, of bringing up her children.

The magazine said: ‘M&B’s new columnist… Peaches Geldof! The It Girl turned Earth Mother will be sharing her mummy moments and views on bringing up babies, from attachment parenting to juggling work and family.’

She defined attachment parenting as building trust and love with her children, by abandoning what she called ‘arms-length’ advice on parenting.

‘Becoming a mother has really broken me, but in the best possible way!’ she said.

Doting: Peaches  takes son Astala to a park in east London in September 2012, where he was five months old

Doting: Peaches takes son Astala to a park in east London in September 2012, where he was five months old

Peaches and her husband Thomas Cohen enjoy a day out at the park with their two sons Astala and Phaedra in September 2013
Peaches Geldof and her husband Thomas Cohen enjoy a day out at the park with their two sons Astala and Phaedra in 2013

Tight knit: Peaches and her husband Thomas Cohen enjoy a day out at the park with their two sons Astala and Phaedra in September 2013

She called looking at her sons’ faces the proof that they were miracles, and the best thing any human being could do.

It was her own difficult childhood which proved to her that so-called ‘attachment parenting’ was the way to bring up children.

She said that her nanny, Nina, had practised close contact parenting, which made up for the difficulties of her parents’ divorce.

Peaches called the aftermath of the divorce, in 1996, when she was seven, as ‘really unstable’.

Besotted: Peaches and husband Thomas enjoying an afternoon at the park with their two sons Astala and Phaedra in July 2013

Besotted: Peaches and husband Thomas enjoying an afternoon at the park with their two sons Astala and Phaedra in July 2013

The difficulties were compounded when she was told, aged 13, that she suffered from polycystic ovaries and was unlikely to have children.

The feeling, she said, was like being ‘robbed’ of part of her ‘womanhood’.

Later, she said, she would have conversations with boyfriends about what their future children would look like, but had to bite her tongue from telling them she did not think there would be any.

However she later suffered an ectopic pregnancy. She did not address who the father was in the interview but it happened in 2010, before she was married to Cohen.

‘I knew the baby could never be, but I cried for days on end,’ she said.

Family fun: Peaches enjoys a day at the park with her family in August 2013

Family fun: Peaches enjoys a day at the park with her family in August 2013

Loving mother: Peaches enjoying the autumn sunshine with her son Phaedra in a London park in September 2013

Loving mother: Peaches enjoying the autumn sunshine with her son Phaedra in a London park in September 2013

Mother-of-two Peaches Geldof  photographed with her son Astala in 2013

Mother-of-two Peaches Geldof photographed with her son Astala in 2013

Only has eyes for her family: Peaches and eldest son Astala in a North London park in May 2013

Only has eyes for her family: Peaches and eldest son Astala in a North London park in May 2013

Peaches said her 'two fat little cherubs under two' became 'my whole existence' and made her life 'bliss'

Peaches said her 'two fat little cherubs under two' became 'my whole existence' and made her life 'bliss'

She was living in California at the time but returned to Britain and fell in love with Cohen, who was an old friend.

When she experienced the symptoms of pregnancy, including nausea and cravings, she dismissed them and it was five months before she went to a doctor and was given a pregnancy test.

The interview appeared less than a month after she died in Mother & Baby magazine

The interview appeared less than a month after she died in Mother & Baby magazine

‘After six tests, I began to dare to hope there could be a life inside me,’ she said.

‘But it was only when I saw Astala's perfectly formed, serious little face that I released an out breath of sheer relief and pure joy that I felt I had been holding my whole life until that one perfect moment.’

Her husband, she said, was in tears and her love for her son was instant and intense.

‘I knew then I'd been destined to be a mother, it's just my baby was waiting for the right time, the time I was ready, too.’

Peaches said that her next pregnancy was accidental – she had not realised it was possible to conceive while breastfeeding – but no less welcome.

A result of the age difference of just a year between her sons, and her desire for ‘attachment parenting’ – which has also been advocated by Gwyneth Paltrow – was exhaustion.

She described crying with tiredness and having no time for herself, but said she had no doubt what she had done was the best thing possible to do.

And she also said that she did not live off her father, having always been told by him to earn her own money, while when her husband's band SCUM split, it was difficult for her marriage, as she had to become the main breadwinner.

She praised her husband as having ‘the patience of a saint’ and said simply of her children: ‘I love loving them and being there for them through everything.’

Devoted: Peaches Geldof's nanny Anita Debney, who became a surrogate mother to her after Paula Yates (right) died of an accidental overdose, today paid tribute to the 25-year-old who passed away suddenly on Monday

Devoted: Peaches Geldof's nanny Anita Debney, who became a surrogate mother to her after Paula Yates (right) died of an accidental overdose, today paid tribute to the 25-year-old who passed away suddenly on Monday

Another image Peaches published on Instagram was this photograph of Paula Yates and her nanny Nina

Another image Peaches published on Instagram was this photograph of Paula Yates and her nanny Nina

ATTACHMENT PARENTING: WHY PEACHES DEFENDED THE PRACTICE

Peaches Geldof was a staunch advocate of attachment parenting, a child-rearing philosophy based on the idea that an infant can benefit from a strong emotional bond with their primary caregiver.

The phrase was initially coined by U.S. paediatrician William Sears in 2001, and recommends practices such as co-sleeping, carrying a baby close in a sling and breastfeeding into toddlerhood, or until the child weans naturally.

The concept has since been embraced by a number of celebrity mothers including Alanis Morisette and The Big Bang Theory’s Mayim Bialik.

Peaches famously defended the practice late last year on This Morning in a debate with former Apprentice contestant Katie Hopkins.

Peaches and Katie Hopkins went head to head in a debate about attachment parenting on This Morning

Peaches and Katie Hopkins went head to head in a debate about attachment parenting on This Morning

She said: ‘All it is is a return to instinctive parenting. I follow the 7 Bs of attachment parenting - birth bonding, breastfeeding, babywearing, bedding close to baby, belief in the language value of your baby’s cry, beware of baby trainers and balance.’

She explained that the principles can be as strict or relaxed as one likes, and her routine with Astala, 23 months, and Phaedra, 10 months, include ‘a loose feeding schedule’ but ‘really strict bedtime’.

When questioned about how the co-sleeping arrangement affects her sex life, Peaches responded: 'I have two babies under two so obviously I am doing something in the bedroom.

'Just because I sleep in bed with my babies doesn't mean I'm in bed with them 24/7.

'They go to bed at 7, but I don't go to bed at 7. We go to another bedroom in the house and watch television or do other things couples do.

'I'm 24 and my husband is 23, we obviously like being intimate with each other!'

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