The widower of the late Paul O’Grady has said he is “still digesting” the TV stalwart’s death, adding he has “kept myself to myself since Paul died”. O’Grady, who rose to fame as Lily Savage before going on to host a string of television programmes, died “unexpectedly but peacefully” at his home on March 28 at the age of 67.
Speaking to the Daily Star Sunday, his husband Andre Portasio said he was “trying to take it day by day”. Portasio, who attended the British LGBT Awards on Friday to collect a gong on his husband’s behalf, told the paper: “I have kept myself to myself since Paul died. This is the first day that I actually left home.
“But I came here for a good cause. Paul is a trailblazer and always defended LGBT rights. I just had to be here. I am trying to take it day by day and cope with it. At the moment I am coping.
“It was such a shock for me to lose him. It was a shock to all of us. It was so unexpected. I am still digesting it all.” O’Grady’s death sparked an outpouring of grief from the British public, with Portasio telling the Star he was “amazed” at “how much he affected, inspired and touched people”.
“I have received so many letters. There have been thousands,” Portasio said. “I am still trying to reply to them all three months on. And people are still going to his grave to leave things.
“I am amazed how someone can touch people in the way he did. And every animal he met too.” O’Grady was laid to rest in April in the village of Bonnington in Kent.
