Hutchence: Family Points Blame

By Caitlin O'toole

07/08/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Michael Hutchence, the Australian frontman of the rock group INXS who was found hanged to death in 1997, was driven to suicide by his then girlfriend, Paula Yates, his family said on Monday, reports Reuters. Hutchence's mother Patricia Glassop and his half-sister Tina Hutchence said Michael, who was 37 at the time of his death, was not in love with Yates and did not want to marry her -- an issue that fueled fights, they said. "Michael never wanted to marry her (Yates) and he told her that up front," Hutchence's mother told Britain's "This Morning" television show, adding that Hutchence had become depressed with Yates and had been planning to break up with her. The coroner ruled Hutchence's death a suicide, but Yates always refused to accept that he had killed himself, claiming instead that he died accidentally during a sex game. In September, Yates was found dead in her London apartment. The couple left behind a daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.