Tragic TV star Paul O'Grady's secret wife has broken her silence on their secret 28-year marriage after he was found dead at home.
The popular presenter sadly passed away at the age of 67 last month. Now Teresa Fernandes has spoken of her sadness over her beloved friend's death.
The Mirror reports how openly gay Paul admitted before his death how he married Portuguese ex wife Teresa Fernandes in 1977 to stop her from being deported.
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"We probably enjoyed one of the longest marriages in showbiz!" she quipped to the Daily Mail. Blankety Blank presenter Paul met Teresa in a gay club where they worked, and he decided to marry her out of "convenience" and to stop her being "hassled" by her family.
Despite losing contact, they only legally divorced in 2005 after being married for 28 years, but Paul said he had never been in a relationship with her.
Speaking about the marriage, Paul said: "Teresa, I call her the lesbian Portuguese barmaid, was lovely. She looked like David Cassidy.
"We worked in a club in Westbourne Grove, London, when I was 22. She was from a very strict Catholic family and was always being hassled by them: 'Why aren't you getting married?' So I said: 'Come on then, we'll get married', and we did. We were married for 28 years."
He also admitted he had forgotten he had married the barmaid all those years ago, until his manager Brendan reminded him. His manager had told him: "If anything happened to you, everything would go to your wife. It's like a real-life Corrie storyline."
The Radio 2 star went on to marry Brazilian ballet dancer Andre Portasio, who was 25 years his junior, in 2017, after meeting at London-based gay club Showplace and becoming friends.
It was fellow actor Julian Clary that inspired him to tie the knot, with Paul explaining: "Julian put the seed in my head. He said, 'I've got married. You should'."
Paul said that he was "right" because it "protected" his partner if anything happened to him, adding: "It makes sense".
He continued: "You feel more committed. You have made a vow, you have to stick to it. But we still fight like cat and dog.
"Married life is the same as before. We have known each other so long. Nothing has changed, really.
"And it's nice. I like saying I'm married – better than saying I'm a divorcee, which I was before."
Paul also had a daughter, Sharon, with his close friend Diane Jansen, in 1974. He also had a grandson, Abel and a granddaughter, Halo.
Teresa told Mail Online : "'I was sad when I heard he had died, I was surprised though because every time I saw him on the TV and in the newspapers he always looked so good and he was still young, he wasn't old like me at all.
"Paul and I carried on working after we got married and we had a lovely party with his friends and mine and then we just drifted apart.
"I had other partners since then, boyfriends and girlfriends, and so did Paul during our marriage but he was never the jealous type, and neither was I because of our situation.
"I think I last saw Paul when his friend Alan, who was the best man at the wedding, invited me to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in the early 1980s when Paul was performing there.
"We talked and reminisced but that was it and a few years later he was famous and, on the TV, but by then we had lost contact.
"Him offering to marry me to help me out was just one of those things that Paul would do, he would help anyone, he was very kind natured and you can see that, he would help anyone if they need it."
Teresa added: "I only found out I was still married when my lawyer who helped me get my British passport asked me and when I told him the story he said we had better sort it out.
"In the end the divorce came through and when I noticed the date I had to smile as it was Valentine's Day, 14 February 2005.
"We had been married for 28 years, most people don't even get to half that these days. It must have been one of the longest marriages in show business."
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