Paul O'Grady: The Biography

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Prior to his relationship with Portasio, O’Grady was in a long-term relationship with his business partner Brendan Murphy, who died of cancer in 2005. His love for rescue dogs was so prominent that his hometown of Birkenhead has plans to line the streets with dogs to mark his funeral. However at the time of his death he and Portasio were sharing their home with five dogs – Arfur, Conchita, Eddie, Nancy and Sausage, known as Soz.

I had no idea we were still married until my manager Brendan said: ‘If anything happened to you, everything would go to your wife”,’ he explained.They wed in an intimate wedding ceremony in London that was reportedly attended by actor Ian McKellen and comedian Julian Clary.

In his 2012 biography Still Standing, O’Grady said that his relationship with Portasio “just crept up on us”. After his death, friend Christopher Biggins said that the “gorgeous” ballet dancer had a huge impact on “rogue” Paul.O’Grady wrote a four-volume memoir and in 2008 he was awarded an MBE for his services to entertainment.