Jess Yates and Elaine Smith were married from 1958 to 1975. Jess Yates was nineteen years older than his wife, and their marriage was unconventional.
The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy.
His TV presenting career ended in 1974 when it was revealed that he had been having an affair with young actress Anita Kay, although he was separated from his wife at the time.
After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, daughter Paula lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.
A few years after his death, a DNA test revealed that Paula Yates' biological father was not Jess Yates, but the television presenter Hughie Green.