Paul O’Grady’s Husband Andre Portasio Opens Up on a Year Without Paul | Loose Women

yes a good one that is it first to Our Guest today and it's been just over a year since the lights of the showas sky became that little bit darker when National Treasure Paulo Grady passed away now in a moment Paul's husband Andre pazio will be sharing his memories in his first TV interview first though a few of our memories of the icon Mr Paulo Grady have you come down from lead's list today no Manchester oh Manchester I thought you were from leads I'd come anywhere to see you oh isn't she all that flow ESP she follow of cheap Supermarket boo upstairs Robbie Williams there in the front got your edible Robbie edible isn't that fabulous look at that weddings funerals how I mean so I showed you now on a Dumbo's mother with the baby Dumbo in a trunk singing baby mine would you cry no and this is this is a French beer it's disgusting what is it it tast like that stuff you got cat let's try to get rid of this smell this come on man get it you go be mostly at my expens I've been with him on an island where's that Island you took me to the [Music] man oh Andre it's so good to have you here thank you so much for having me oh well we're we're all smiling and laughing through that because we all just adore him how difficult is it for you to watch that just a year on from Paul's passing I love watching him uh and I and to me it feels now I'm sort of accepting that he's gone uh it took me quite a long time to kind of get to this position I think to begin with was really a shock you didn't go out did you Andre oh I um I stayed in the house it to begin with you know I was getting the letters and the flowers and it was just too overwhelming to begin with uh in hand sight now I see how much it has really helped me the support and I should thank everyone uh that really wrote to me and you know it was just the kindness of everybody really it will stay with me forever and then there there was a wonderful Memorial evening that was quite unlike any of ever been to for anyone I've ever known who who's passed on it was absolutely Bonkers yes me it felt it needed to be a celebration you know Paul was such a character um you know and I didn't realize until I think he passed away how pop popular he was you know just by being on TV I suppose I'm always backstage and I never really had um I never realized how loved he was you know I don't I don't know if Paul realized that I don't think he did because he was he was so loved and I think the reason being as far as I'm concerned you know knowing him years and years and years he never no matter how famous he got or how far up the ladder got he was always Paul he never ever changed yeah the the the boy from birken hedge yeah uh and that that's how he I think saw himself he never saw himself as you know a celebrity or a star he could be quite embarrassing when you went out with him you go to really Posh places I remember going out for a drink with him one night I me I have a glass of champagne he went oh can I have a cider sorry yes you were talking about letters and things that you've received of condolences um one of the letters you received was from um the queen consort Camila yes I was shocked to receive a letter from her and I must confess it took me so long to reply it's not every day that you receive a letter from the queen so I would you know wake up and think I need I must reply to her letter and I would sit down and I would be like dear Camila no dear Queen Camila oh no and it took me so long in the end I was like you're not writing a book you're writing a than letter and you just have to go with what is in your heart so I finally wrote to her oh good for you one thing I have to ask you about is obviously we all know what an animal massive animal lover Paul was yeah um which obviously you had to be cuz no one could be with Paul that didn't love animals and five dogs you had um and one thing I read which really touched my heart was when he passed away it was recommended to you that you took the dogs to his casket to see him so that they could see that um I've received so many letters and it was funny because you know a lot of people didn't know the address so you would receive the letter and it would be like Polo gr Home Kent or and I opened this letter and it was this um old lady and she was I think she was 85 and she uh was very worried that um about the dogs and the dogs had to say goodbye and that it stayed at the back of my mind and I thought you know I must attend to what she's asking me to do so just before he was buried I took the dogs to say goodbye and it was really um interesting to see that some of them uh engaged with Paul but others they just spped out as if he wasn't there anymore and how are they all doing now they're doing fabulous and they they were a great source of uh yeah and you're carrying on aren't you his or trying to carry on his charity work for yes I feel very responsible to what he started um you know he was so many facets he was a great radio DJ a broadcaster performer and everything else but aside from that I think he was also very charitable and something I think no one really realized is that most of the charot work that he's done was very private so I feel I needed to take the Legacy forward and continue helping the organizations that he helped but also taking it further that it can out leave me in that uh sense your in your local community you said that Paul had bought some fruit trees which he hadn't planted yes and that you took them to the local school well just before he passed away uh he said to me let's walk the dogs I have something to show you and the surprise was the fruit trees because we had recently built a guest Cottage in in the grounds and uh he was looking to you know do the garden around it so he bought those fruit trees and when when he passed away I felt I can enjoy them alone it needs to be somewhere that other people can enjoy uh and he done a lot of work with the the primary school in our village so I phoned them up um I'm good friends with uh the head teacher and I was like would you mind having the trees and he was like of course so we had a little uh ceremony with all the kids and they helped me plant the trees and just before um when I got there obviously I had to introduce the idea to the children and I said to them you know do you know who Polo grade was and bear in mind all these children are seven eight years old and then the first answer was like he was a drag queen but which shows that you know for child of seven to know who Lily savit was it really high highlights his impact so you celebrated if that's the right word commemorated a year after his passing by going on holiday didn't you did yes I didn't want to be in the house remembering the shock that I had gone through and it was really really really hard I don't wish to my worst enemy to find the person that you love UNC on the floor I didn't want to remember him in that way I wanted to celebrate his life the time that we had together I was very fortunate to spend 18 years with him when we got married you know for me was forever and only I didn't realize that it was shortlived we were together for 18 years and we were married for six so and Paul uh we traveled all over the world but we never been to New Zealand so for me it was going to a place where I could celebrate him you know without the problems when someone dies no one tells you how hard it is to with the admin of it and the decisions you have to make and all the Cloudy that uh has nothing to do with how I felt about him I took his passport with me I took his pajamas with me and do you know that I also took a one of his friends which is a as an imaginary friend called Kitty and Pa you know Kitty would appear in the most bizarre moments um often when he wants to deflect the conversation so if I said to Paul um oh Paul let's go for a little walk and he would say like kitty what is he mumbling on about and then I would be like kitty tell him that is just a 5 minutes W so going to New Zealand I had Kitty Ino with me I would be like kitty how come is he not complaining of walking well listen it's so lovely to hear your stories because we obviously knew I mean I know Janet was friends but we knew him from the television from our world but you know he was your love and your husband and it must left a huge void in your life but it's so wonderful that you're you're trying to carry on his legacy with all his charity work and um we wish you well thank you for sharing all that with us [Music]

Channel: Loose Women

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Id: 2UeHfGlLFwQ

Length: 11min 8sec (668 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024