Bob Geldof Shares the True Reason Behind His Marriage to Partner Jeanne Marine

His extraordinary life has taken him from childhood misery to national, and then international, acclaim when, in early adulthood, he became an object of adulation before he suffered a succession of inexpressible losses.

Throughout it all, Bob Geldof has appeared completely unconcerned with keeping up appearances.

But now, aged 73, he’s ready to acknowledge that his decision to marry was, on both occasions, swayed by at least some consideration of what used to be known as keeping up with the Joneses – though, in the first instance, it might be more apt to say ‘keeping up with Lady Jones’.

Reflecting on his relationship with Paula Yates, Geldof says their marriage in 1986 – a decade after Paula moved in with him and three years after the birth of Fifi Trixibelle, the eldest of their three daughters – was prompted by a change in his status.

‘I had just been knighted,’ he says, recalling the award conferred on him that year by Queen Elizabeth for his charity work in Africa.

He adds that, aware that Paula desired to be her ladyship, he ‘didn’t want to leave her out’ – even though, given his Irish nationality, his knighthood was honorary. ‘She wanted to be Lady Paula,’ he says. In fact, she became Lady Geldof.

Nine years later, Yates left him for Australian rock star Michael Hutchence – a defection which, Geldof has reflected, broke him so badly that he was, for a time, ‘actually mad’.

He might never have recovered had he not met the second of the ‘two extraordinary women’ he would marry, French actress Jeanne Marine, above.

They eventually got engaged in 2014 – after 18 years together. ‘I married Jeanne when she turned 50, in the French town where we have a house,’ says Geldof. 

‘I might get killed for saying this,’ he adds, ‘but I feel that some women judge their unmarried friends – like it’s a social status to be married, and those who don’t get asked become resentful for it never happening.’

Smooch that says Sting’s daughter to wed again

Sting had to cancel a string of performances because of a throat infection, but now has a reason to sing again.

His daughter, actress Mickey Sumner, 41, has got engaged to Carter B Smith, 55, an American photographer and director. 

She posted this snap on social media, writing alongside a picture of her kissing Smith on a beach: ‘[I’ve] been crushing on you since 2007. I can’t wait to be your wife.’

Mickey, whose mother is Sting’s wife, film producer Trudie Styler, was previously married to US tech tycoon Chris Kantrowitz, with whom she has an eight-year-old son, Akira Rogue.

Millie’s very strange bedmates

She made her name tackling monsters in Netflix hit Stranger Things, but Millie Bobby Brown is a softie back home.

The actress, 21, who grew up in Bournemouth, has revealed that she and husband Jake Bongiovi slept with kid goats in bed between them, as they nurtured the animals. ‘I had to bottle feed my goat Eminem every four hours,’ she says. ‘We were bringing in these goats that sleep in our bed, and they were in diapers.

‘So I would sleep with them, and Jake, and they would be in the middle. And Jake would get up and do a shift, and then I would get up and do a shift. I had Norman, Lamby, Eminem. I did the same thing with my cows.’ 

Surely, she must be kidding!

Having sadly announced her retirement from acting last year due to deteriorating eyesight, Dame Judi Dench disapproves of modern-day thespians relying on microphones to be heard from the stage. 

Taking aim at ‘micing up’, 90-year-old Judi complains: ‘The problem is that the mic means you don’t have to try as hard…I do wonder if the theatre  will survive.’ 

She adds: ‘You might as well stay in and listen to the radio.’

The smart set’s talking about…Jeweller Jade Jagger’s terrifically exclusive club

When your father is 81 and still prancing round the stage with the Rolling Stones, it must be hard to keep up.

But Jade Jagger is, I hear, doing her best, by relaunching her career as a nightclub promoter, at the age of 53. Sir Mick Jagger’s daughter is reviving her Ibiza club nights Jezebel in London.

The launch will take place next week at The Tent (at the End of the Universe), a cash-only Middle Eastern restaurant that transforms into a guest list-only club after dark.

‘I’m looking forward to welcoming family and new friends to our tent at the end of the universe,’ says Jade, whose mother, Bianca, the Nicaraguan social activist, was the singer’s wife.

Jewellery designer Jade previously admitted her famous name has helped attract partygoers.

‘I’m sure my father creates a certain allure for people coming to our Jezebel parties, and it has definitely opened up doors in so far as I have had the chance to meet so many great performers,’ she said.

‘I have never let my Jagger name get in the way of what I do; I am very independent and feel that I have carved my own identity.’

Fergie’s night out with Trump’s special envoy

Sarah Ferguson turned up at Annabel’s nightclub for her hen do with her and Princess Diana dressed up as police officers.

‘We sat down, and the waiter came up to us and said, ‘Excuse me, this is a members’ club. It’s for fun, and we don’t serve police officers here’,’ the Duchess of York later recalled.

Now 65, Fergie has not lost her taste for clubbing.

I can disclose that she turned up at the Rex Rooms in the King’s Road, Chelsea, on Thursday night.

‘We were quite surprised to see her there,’ a fellow reveller tells me. ‘But it’s great that she still enjoys a night out. There shouldn’t be any maximum age limit on clubbing.’

Prince Andrew’s ex-wife was doing her bit to strengthen relations between the Royal Family and Donald Trump’s White House.

For she was accompanied by Mark Burnett, Trump’s special envoy to the UK. He’s the British TV executive who produced the American President on The Apprentice.

Raised in Essex, Burnett, 64, served as a paratrooper in the Army before emigrating to the US in 1982, when he was 22.

He went on to work for MGM and created and produced The Apprentice, helping to propel Trump, then a property developer, to new heights of fame.

How are you relaxing this weekend – spot of gardening, round of golf? Well, visitors to King Charles’s rural retreat can expect something all together more exotic. 

Tomorrow, Highgrove House, Gloucestershire, is hosting ‘Lie Down and Listen sessions’ in which paying guests will be guided ‘through deep relaxation’ and shown how ‘vibrations, and the frequencies of Tibetan bowls and music work with the body and your energy field’. 

The advert doesn’t specify if HM will join in.

Tip of the week 

TV presenter Gaby Roslin has a suggestion for cheering yourself up. ‘Jump!’ she tells me at the Born Free Footsteps to Freedom Gala. ‘I make everybody jump. I was walking in the park and saw a couple who were very upset about something and they shared their story with me. I said, ‘Come on, let’s jump,’ and they did. And they started smiling.

‘It was awful, the thing that they were coping with, but just for that moment they had that little nugget of joy.’

Bitter that he has never received a knighthood or any other honour to date, showbiz veteran Christopher Biggins snaps: ‘I’ve got nothing… it’s disgusting.

‘I suppose I must have raised something like £50million over the years for charities…it’s who you know, I think.

‘I don’t know those idiots who give out the honours, the gongs.’

Dame Joan Collins previously said: ‘My wonderful friend Christopher does more for charity than anyone else I know. Why has this great man never received any kind of gong? He truly deserves one.’ 

It should be a damehood, at least, for pantomime stalwart Biggins, 76.

Alastair Campbell’s family favour

Since his £5million betting syndicate collapsed in December, ten investors have reported him to the Metropolitan Police, alleging that new investment was being accepted even while existing backers struggled to withdraw their cash.

But Rory Campbell, 37, son of Tony Blair’s spin-doctor Alastair, is not one to wallow in self-recrimination. Quite the reverse: splendidly indifferent to being tagged a ‘nepo-baby’, he’s now doing research very close to home – for his father’s podcast, in fact, prompting co-host Rory Stewart to accuse Alastair of ‘turning research into a family business’.

The older Campbell acknowledged: ‘Guilty as charged.’

Not words Campbell Jnr will be uttering. Though declining to comment on his podcast role, he’s previously asserted that accusations of criminal activity against him and his betting syndicate are ‘baseless’.

King Charles and Queen Camilla want somebody to ‘bring people closer’ to them.

The Royal Engagements Assistant will earn £30,000 a year for ‘facilitating meaningful contact between Their Majesties and the world through careful coordination, thoughtful briefings and seamless delivery of engagements,’ according to the advertisement on the royal website. 

‘As part of the Royal Engagements team, you will provide administrative support to the planning and coordination of individual engagements by the King and joint engagements by the King and Queen. You will be a detail-oriented and proactive individual.’

It adds: ‘In all you do, you will aim to bring people closer to the King and Royal Family and the important work they do.’

Ramsay’s mouthwatering £60million TV turnover

Though within sight of his bus pass – he’s now in his 59th year – Gordon Ramsay is still sizzling away very nicely, judging by the latest figures to emerge from Humble Pie Productions, the company into which he lovingly ladles his earnings from television and assorted media enterprises.

Just published, they show that its turnover broke the £60 million mark – up a whopping £17 million on the year before. 

The recipe seems to be: forget the kitchen – get in front of the cameras. ‘The company has been commissioned to produce shows such as Trailblazers for the BBC, Gordon’s Food Stars for Fox and

Next Level Chef for both ITV and Fox,’ records the firm’s accounts, adding this has ‘contributed to the significant increase in turnover’.

Strictly split is terrible: Julien 

Ben Cohen’s ex-wife Abby had little sympathy for the former England rugby star after he announced that he had split up with Strictly Come Dancing ‘maneater’ Kristina Rihanoff, telling this newspaper last weekend: ‘They were all about lust.’

But fashion designer Julien Macdonald, who was also competing on Strictly when Cohen met Kristina in 2013, claims the split is ‘terrible’.

The fashion designer tells me: ‘I spoke to Ben – I’m friends with Ben and Kristina – it’s terrible what’s happened between them.’ 

Speaking at the Smiley Charity Film Awards at Indigo at The O2 in London, Macdonald adds: ‘Nothing lasts for ever, and life’s too short. I’m sure Ben is going to move forward and Kristina is too. I wish them the best.’