London - DNA tests have confirmed that Paula Yates is the daughter of the late TV presenter, Hughie Green, it has emerged. The grieving celebrity, mourning the death of her lover, Michael Hutchence, must now come to terms with the fact that her father was not the man she thought he was - Stars on Sunday presenter, Jess Yates.
Yates told the Sun: "I'm horrified. I thought I was at the darkest point in my life - now this." DNA tests were taken after a friend of Green's named her as the star's daughter following his death from cancer. Analysts matched her blood sample with those of two known children of the late star.
A journalist, Noel Botham, shocked mourners at Green's funeral in London in May when he disclosed that the star had a famous love-child. He did not name her - but says he confirmed the identity when it was put to him by the News of the World. Botham said Green told him 20 years ago he was Paula's father but had not told his daughter.
Yates and her mother, Heller Thornton-Bosment, had both fiercely denied the claim. Heller, who now lives with her second husband in the south of France, said in a statement: "It is a wellknown fact that Paula was conceived a month after my marriage to Jess." She insisted the claim was "offensive" to her family, and Paula, a former Big Breakfast presenter, dismissed it as "disgusting".
Jess Yates died of a stroke at the age of 74 in 1993. Green, who died, aged 77, was the creator and presenter of the television talent show, Opportunity Knocks, which was watched at its height by 25 million people.
Christopher Green (50), who travelled to England from his home in Canada to receive the results, told the Daily Mail: "We had really hoped there was no truth in what was said at the funeral. This is not the result we wanted or expected. We can't walk away from Paula Yates. She's got feelings. She is a human being. "It is said that the son shall pay for the sins of the father. My father let us down by never telling us about this while he was alive. Now we shall all suffer."