Meet Michael Hutchence's ex-girlfriends, including a supermodel, a pop princess, and a married TV star

Michael met part-time mode and photographic assistant Michele Bennett around 1981 at one of INXS's early shows.

"They met at a gig... kind of before he found his groove," Jane Harber, who played Michele in the 2014 miniseries Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS, told TV Tonight. "He was just starting out, and she obviously loved his music, having been to a couple of his gigs. They fell in love quickly."

Michael and Michele were together for five years before they split around 1987, but they remained close friends. "I don't think Michele was wanting to put up with that kind of lifestyle," Jane explained. "She wanted him to be successful, but didn't want to be in that 'rock star' scene with the drugs, women and travel."

Michele was the last person to speak to Michael before he died.

Michael secretly dated US model Rosanna Crash for about a year in 1987; however, their relationship was only revealed in the 2017 documentary Michael Hutchence: The Last Rockstar.

"Rosanna gave Michael the companionship he sorely needed and the support he wanted without a second thought," his sister Tina wrote on Facebook in 2020.

"The couple took small forays into the real world, away from the interviews, sound checks, performances and the air-conditioned artifice of hotel life. They ate macrobiotic food and practised tai chi and yoga in their daily routines, even with the tour's rigorous demands."

Michael reportedly ended his relationship with Rosanna over the phone after falling for Kylie Minogue.

Kylie Minogue was in a two-year relationship with Michael from 1989 to 1991, following the end of her romance with Jason Donovan. 

'I was 21 when we met — and really impressionable... I mean that in the best possible way," Kylie said in an upcoming Netflix documentary about her life called Kylie. "He just had such an impact on me. He was a smart, kind, deep, artistic and interesting human."

"We went on this beautiful journey of a relationship. His passing in 1997 was a loss to so many, including myself," she continued. "People wonder why I'm still so moved... it's for many reasons. One of those is that he was one of my first big steps into adulthood, into the wider world.

"A world of possibility and discovery. Travel, literature, excess, connections, art, artistry, expression, performance and on and on the list goes!" she added. "I was the perfect age for that moment."

Michael ended their relationship, with Kylie telling ACA host Tracy Grimshaw in 2014: "He broke my heart. I have to confess that the hurt stayed for quite a long time."

Michael and Danish supermodel Helena Christensen met in 1991 and dated for four years, even living together on and off in France and Denmark.

Their relationship began to change after he was assaulted by a taxi driver in Copenhagen in 1992 and suffered a brain injury after his head hit concrete. Michael was left with no sense of taste or smell, and Helena claimed in the documentary Mystify: Michael Hutchence that following the attack, he was a "dark and very angry" man.

On the 23rd anniversary of his death, Helena took to Instagram to pay tribute to Michael, writing: "Michael was a very beautiful and kind man, incredibly gifted and soulful. We had the best time and laughed a lot in the years we spent together but eventually we just drifted apart.

"I think I felt too young for the responsibility it takes being with someone older who lived a very different life," she continued. "And he prob felt the same way. But we never stopped caring about each other. Today I'm sending him love from earth and remembering the sweet, tender, funny, smart man he was."

Michael began an affair with British TV presenter Paula Yates in 1994, while she was still married to Sir Bob Geldof and he was dating Helena, whom he broke up with in 1995.

Michael first met Paula Yates in 1985 during an interview for The Tube, but it was nine years later that they began an affair. While the exact start date of their relationship is unknown, their affair came to light after a famously flirtatious interview on the TV show The Big Breakfast in October 1994. 

Paula left her husband, Sir Bob Geldof, in February 1995, and Michael ended his relationship with Helena Christensen. By the time Paula and Bob's divorce was finalized the following year, she was pregnant with her and Michael's only child, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, who was born on July 22, 1996.

Paula and Michael were together until his death on November 22, 1997. His daughter was just 16 months old and attended his funeral in the arms of a grieving Paula, who died three years later from a heroin overdose. Tiger Lily was later adopted by Bob Geldof.