Paul O’Grady’s spouse Andre Portasio recalls star’s remaining several hours

Paul O’Grady’s widower Andre Portasio has shared specifics of the couple’s previous hrs together during a memorial celebration for the late Television presenter and beloved gay icon.

O’Grady handed absent “unexpectedly and peacefully” in March from cardiac arrhythmia syndrome, aged 67.

The funeral, which bundled a general public mourning procession, took location in April, with tributes pouring in for O’Grady – who uncovered fame as their trailblazing drag persona Lily Savage – from throughout the LGBTQ+ and leisure earth.

Most a short while ago, Battersea Puppies and Cats Home (with whom O’Grady had powerful and lengthy-long lasting ties as an ambassador) declared their veterinary medical center would be named right after the Television set persona.

For the duration of an psychological memorial event on Wednesday (18 Oct), attended by O’Grady’s famous close friends these kinds of as Alan Carr, Dawn French and Amanda Holden, the star’s partner unveiled how he invested his last hrs at their home in Kent.

According to the Sun, Portasio stated: “We’d had a pretty standard working day, just looking at Tv set jointly at household, when Paul claimed he required to make a ‘cup of tea,’ and that was our ­little code for rolling a spliff.

“So Paul went to the kitchen area to make a cup of tea, introduced it back again, lit it and begun smoking cigarettes it – and that was our final time with each other, the final matter we did. He passed away there in his chair.”

O’Grady was starring Miss Hannigan on the Uk-vast tour of the musical Annie at the time.

Portasio, who tied the knot with O’Grady in 2017, marked what would have been the couple’s sixth wedding anniversary in August with a touching write-up of the two on their wedding day working day.

“It’s been 5 months given that he handed absent, leaving a significant void that words can barely describe,” he wrote in the caption. “Yet, as I mirror on the 18 lovely many years we invested jointly, I cherish the reminiscences that brought enormous happiness into my lifetime.

“Paul was my rock, my confidant, and my lover in each journey. Our journey collectively was nothing at all quick of remarkable.”

O’Grady saw posthumous recognition for his ITV collection For the Really like of Canine at the Countrywide Television Awards in September, winning an award for Factual Leisure Programme.

Reps from the Battersea Canine and Cats Residence – where the show is filmed – acknowledged on his behalf.