Paul O’Grady has secretly married his ballet dancing partner in a low-key London ceremony, it has been revealed.
The 62-year-old ‘Blind Date’ host tied the knot with Andre Portasio, 37, in the gardens of the Goring Hotel in the capital earlier this month.
The couple, who have been together since 2006, delivered their vows in front of 50 family members and close friends, including a number of well-known faces.
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Paul O'Grady (right) with his new husband Andre Portasio
Andre on stage in an English National Ballet production in 2006.
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Guests including Ian McKellen, Julian Clary and Michael Cashman witnessed the couple get hitched before enjoying a champagne reception.
Paul was introduced to the former English National Ballet dancer by his previous boyfriend and manager Brendan Murphy, who died suddenly from a brain tumour at the age 49, just days before Paul’s 50th birthday.
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Paul and Andre with Paul's sister Sheila Rudd and daughter Sharyn Mousley
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The Lily Savage star revealed his relationship with Andre in his 2012 biography, ‘Still Standing’, writing: “Our relationship just crept up on us. It took us by surprise when we were least expecting it.”
This isn’t the TV star’s first marriage. In 1977 he wed Portuguese model Teresa Fernandez after her family pressurised her into walking down the aisle.
Speaking about the ‘marriage of convenience’, Paul explained: “Theresa, 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 27 years. I had no idea we were still married until my manager Brendan said, ‘If anything happened to you, everything would go to your wife’. It’s like a real life Corrie story line.”