Paul O’Grady’s ‘marriage of convenience’ with ex-wife and why she didn’t attend his funeral

Paul O’Grady was in a “marriage of convenience” with a Portuguese woman named Teresa Fernandes for close to 30 years.

Here’s everything we know about their relationship – and why she didn’t attend his funeral following his heartbreaking death last year…

Paul O’Grady and his ‘marriage of convenience’ to wife Teresa

Back in 1976, Paul was working at a gay club in London called Showplace.

It was there that he met a Portuguese model called Teresa Fernandes, who was a lesbian.

They grew close, and in 1977, to stop Teresa’s mother from pestering her about getting married, they tied the knot. However, they were never in a relationship.

Paul spoke of their marriage of convenience during an old interview.

“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,” he said.

Paul O’Grady and marriage to Portuguese wife Teresa

Paul then continued, saying that they ended up being legally married for 28 years. However, they did lose touch.

In fact, the late comedian revealed that he’d actually forgotten they’d even tied the knot – and was only reminded of this by his manager, Brendan.

“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 storyline,” he said.

He eventually had to call Teresa to end the marriage.

Paul did later marry again. He tied the knot with his partner, André Portasio, in 2017.

Speaking after their wedding, Paul said: “I like saying I’m married – better than saying I’m a divorcee, which I was before.”

Teresa breaks her silence

Following Paul’s death, Teresa, now in her 70s, spoke of her sadness during an interview with the MailOnline.

“We probably enjoyed one of the longest marriages in showbiz! Paul was a very special, close friend of mine, but we didn’t really love each other,” she said.

“I was lesbian and he was gay so the marriage would never have worked but we had a great time as friends and even though it was almost 50 years ago I have great memories,” she then continued.

She then said that her mother had never met Paul – and they had planned to have a wedding ceremony in Portugal, but Paul had to pull out due to work commitments.

Paul’s ex-wife on why she didn’t attend his funeral

Later in the interview, Teresa spoke about why she didn’t attend Paul’s funeral.

“Of course I was sad when I heard Paul had died, he was always a good friend but I hadn’t seen him since the early 1980s. We just drifted apart at around the time he started to get famous, but I didn’t go to the funeral because it’s too far for me to travel,” she then said.

Read more: Inside Paul O’Grady’s relationship with late partner Brendan Murphy: ‘Proper punch-ups’, nursing him through brain cancer and ‘worst six weeks of my life’

Paul O’Grady’s Great Elephant Adventure airs tonight (Sunday, April 7) at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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