EMILY PRESCOTT: Bono rewrites history over Paula Yates

U2 frontman Bono has been accused of rewriting history in his new memoir, which describes how he abandoned his friendship with wild-life TV host Paula Yates and her rock star aficionado Michael Hutchence over their rampant drug use.

The Irish rocker claims he broke ties when the couple asked him to be godfather to their daughter Tiger Lily, and he felt compelled to decline.

But last night, his account was labeled “absurd” by Paula’s former right-hand man Gerry Agar-Fennell, who tells me that Bono actually turned down their request because of his close friendship with Paula’s ex, Bob Geldof.

U2 frontman Bono has been accused of rewriting history in his new memoir, which describes how he left his friendship with wild-life TV host Paula Yates and her rock star lover Michael Hutchence over their rampant drug use.

In his autobiography Surrender, Bono writes: ‘It should have been the greatest honor when Michael and Paula called my wife Ali and I to ask us to become godparents to Tiger Lily.

In his autobiography Surrender, Bono writes: ‘It should have been the greatest honor when Michael and Paula called my wife Ali and I to ask us to become godparents to Tiger Lily.

“But we were provoked. They were in a free fall and plunged into the vortex of recreational drug use that had become hard work for everyone…”

But Gerry says, ‘Bono tries to come across as squeaky clean in his book – it’s so terrible and wrong, it’s absolutely absurd. He says he was uncomfortable with them because of their drug use. But I’ve never seen that.’

Gerry, who was Paula’s publicist and friend, claims she was in the house when INXS frontman Michael called to ask Bono to become a godfather, and the U2 star had said, ‘Look, I have this friendship with Bob, it’ If I accept it, it won’t work. I’m sorry, mate.’ She adds that just a fortnight after Bono turned down the godfather’s offer, he was happy to take the couple to the south of France. “They were as fat as thieves,” she says.

Gerry also claims that the couple’s friends dismissed her concerns about Paula and Michael’s drug use.

“I was the only one trying to help them,” she says. “I went to all their friends for help, including Bono. But they were all too busy partying and saying they loved each other.’

Gerry’s story comes nearly 25 years after Michael committed suicide in a Sydney hotel room at age 37. Ten months later, Paula died of a heroin overdose at the age of 41. Tiger Lily, now 26, lives out of the limelight.

Bono did not respond to a request for comment last night.