LONDON, ENGLAND: TV veteran Paul O’Grady’s grieving husband, Andre Portasio recently stepped out to receive the British LGBT Awards, which he said was his first outing since the untimely death of his husband on March 28 due to cardiac arrhythmia at the age of 67. In a heartbreaking interview with The Daily Star, Andre Portasio said he is still coming to terms with O’Grady’s death.
Portassio said, “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.” He also shared in the interview that it was the first day he went out after his husband’s death saying, “I have kept myself to myself since Paul died. This is the first day that I actually left home.” Beloved to the public, O’Grady cemented his position as a household entertainer through his hosting of a number of television programs.
In the interview, Portasio further shared his astonishment at the amount of love his husband still receives even after his death. He shared candidly, “I spent 17 years with Paul and I know the wonderful person that he was. But it wasn't until his death that I realized how much he affected, inspired and touched people. People are still going to his grave to leave things.”
Who is Andre Portasio?
Brazil-born Portasio is a former ballet dancer who first started training under the ballet teacher Natalia Barbara. In 1997, he joined the Escuela National de Cuba with a scholarship. He later moved to London in 1998. His two-time medal-winning performances at Genée in 1998 and 1999 earned him a place at the prestigious English National Ballet School.
He has been credited for his performances in the likes of ‘Swan Lake’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘The Rite of Spring’, ‘Cinderella’ among others. After retiring as a professional ballerina, he has become a ballet instructor. He currently works as the Executive Producer at ArtstreamingTV Ltd.
Paul O’Grady and Andre Portasio’s love story
Andre Portasio greatly influenced “rogue” O’Grady as per his friend Christopher Biggins. Portasio has been a former professional ballet dancer who has known O’Grady for 17 years. Earlier, he was a performer in the English National Ballet. As per the Independent, they met 11 years before they finally tied the knot in 2017. The couple started dating in 2006 when O’Grady was 50 and Portasio 25.
O’Grady wrote about his relationship with Portasio in his biography ‘Still Standing’ in 2012. He shared that their relationship “just crept up on us” before elaborating, “It took us by surprise when we were least expecting it.” He also revealed earlier it was his friend Julian Clary, who encouraged him to get married to Portasio. O’Grady said, “Julian put the seed in my head. He said, 'I’ve got married. You should,'” before continuing, “And he’s right, then you protect your partner. If anything happens to me, he is protected. It makes sense.”
O’Grady and Portasio got married in 2017 in an intimate ceremony in London. After O’Grady’s death, his friend, Christopher Biggins said to The Sun, “He married a gorgeous man and I think that is what saved him from descending into life as a rogue,” before adding, “He made a happy life in the Kent countryside with his animals.”
The couple lived in a farmhouse in Kent with a brood of animals including dogs, goats, sheep, etc.
