‘I want to be as far away as possible’, Paul O’Grady’s widower flees UK ahead of one-year anniversary of star’s death
PAUL O’Grady’s widower has escaped to the other side of the world ahead of the star’s death anniversary.
For the Love of Dogs host Paul was 67 years old when he died of cardiac arrhythmia at his home on March 28 in front of his husband Andre Portasio.
The couple had been together for 18 years – and now Andre will mark Paul’s passing while in New Zealand after fleeing their home.
“Suddenly, you start remembering where we were, and what we were doing together,” he told the Mirror.
“It reminded me just how lucky I was to have had him in my life.”
He added: “I wanted to be as far away from it as possible in New Zealand.
“I don’t want to be anywhere near my kitchen where I found him, and be reminded of what happened.”
He was said to have been smoking a cannabis joint when he died peacefully at his home.
Speaking at a star-studded memorial for O’Grady last October, his husband Andre Portasio recalled: “We’d had a very ordinary day, just watching TV together at home, when Paul said he wanted to make a ‘cup of tea,’ and that was our little code for rolling a spliff.
“So Paul went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, brought it back, lit it and started smoking it – and that was our last time together, the last thing we did. He passed away there in his chair.”
The Sun revealed earlier this month that Paul left a staggering £15.5m in his will – with £125,000 set aside to look after his five pet dogs.
The presenter also left half a million pounds to the Battersea Cats and Dogs Home which featured in his best known TV show – ITV’s For the Love of Dogs.
Animal lover Paul left a total of £775,000 to organisations close to his heart, including donations of £50,000 to elephant and orangutan charities.
He also gave £50,000 to the Salvation Army, whom he’d been a lifelong fan of as a result of them helping the needy in his native Liverpool when he was growing up.
Paul once remarked that he’d left very exacting instructions to his lawyer to execute his will just as he’d stated, alongside a warning.
In a 2012 interview he said: “I’ve put in my will – the solicitor was roaring laughing – ‘God help anyone who ignores my wishes, because when your turn comes to die I’ll be stood at the gates of hell waiting for you.”
The figure of £15.5m left in his will is more than double what was predicted shortly after his death on March 28, as a result of cardiac arrhythmia.