The beloved presenter married André Portasio in 2017
Paul O’Grady’s widower has revealed he’s worried if he’s ‘doing the right thing’ in selling their house two years on from his death.
The beloved TV presenter tragically passed away on March 28, 2023, after suffering sudden cardiac arrhythmia at the age of 67.
Paul, who rose to fame in the 1980s with his drag persona Lily Savage, was one of the UK’s most popular TV personalities for over four decades.
Presenting various television and radio shows, some of Paul’s most popular work includes Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs, Blind Date and The Paul O’Grady Show, which aired on ITV and Channel 4
With the second anniversary of his passing arriving on Friday, his spouse André Portasio revealed that he is moving and selling their marital home in Kent.
He told the Daily Mirror: “I have been ok. Life just continues. Paul is always in my mind. I’ve had to make so many difficult decisions now.
“I am selling the house and you just hope he is there to guide me. Am I doing the right thing, am I not?”
André went on to admit that he’s finding that making simple decisions in his daily life has become harder without Paul still around to support him.
“He was such a big personality in the house….deciding what to cook now is so hard. Paul never ate anything he kept as a pet so no chicken, no pork, no lamb. It was always very easy to know what to have for dinner,” he said.
André added: “I normally enjoy watching videos of him/ Sometimes I get upset but mostly I laugh about them. He was so funny. It also helps me to remember how funny and genuine and upbeat he was.”
To honour one year since Paul’s death, André shared a video from the former Blankety Blank host which was filmed just 20 minutes before he passed away.
The short clip featured Paul speaking about his book Eddie Albert and the Amazing Animal Gang after he had recently received an award for it.
Paul said in the video: “Hello everybody, I’m Paul O’Grady and I just want to say a massive thank you for reading my book, and also for voting for it. I’m absolutely delighted with my award so thank you very much.”
Explaining why he decided to share the video, André said: “I went to bed and I looked at my phone and it showed a featured picture. I didn’t recognise what it was, and then when it came up I was like ‘oh my god.’
“I had totally forgotten about it.’ I thought it was a nice thing to share with his fans.”
In typical Paul fashion, he used the video as an opportunity to once again express his love of animals, with his two dogs cuddled up beside him in the footage.
“And by the way, this is Eddie, this is my dog. Aren’t you? You’re famous. And Butch in the book is based on this little one. You’re being very quiet today aren’t you?
“Anyway, once again, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Look after yourselves,” Paul concluded his final message to his fans.