Paul O'Grady's beloved dog Arfur "nuzzled his face" as he was dying.
Paul O'Grady was being 'nuzzled' by his beloved dog as he died
The beloved comic and TV host - who reportedly set aside £125,000 in his will for the car of his five dogs - died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome aged 67 in March 2023, and his widower, Andre Portasio, has relived his "heartbreaking" final moments as he tried to save his husband's life.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "The saddest part of this all is that when all of this happened, and as I was trying to resuscitate him, I was trying to keep the dogs out of the room.
“But somehow Paul’s dog Arfur, who is one of his favourites, escaped and he nuzzled his face as he always did on Paul’s shoulder, as if to say ‘wake up’.
"It was just heartbreaking.”
Andre described the day Paul died as "the most ordinary day", with his late husband waking up "really late" as he'd just got back from a live tour.
He recalled: “Usually, he would stagger down from the bedroom with his hair on end and moaning it was the beginning of the day.
"He loved a good moan but he had a meeting with his producer, Malcolm Prince, about his radio show and he was looking very smart in a white shirt, and had a good aura."
After the meeting that afternoon, he asked Andre to join him on his usual solo walk with their five dogs, before they settled down in front of the telly.
He said: "He left to get some tea, and I heard this loud bang. But because the house is big and old, I didn’t think of anything at first.”
Two of the dogs went into the kitchen and came back, and Andre went in to start making their dinner when he realised something was wrong.
He added: "I started taking things out of the fridge. And all of a sudden, I could see him lying on the floor.”
Initially, he thought he was "just unconscious", but called for an ambulance and was told to do CPR to try and keep him alive.
By the time the paramedics arrived, Andre was "exhausted".
Paul was laid to rest alongside his former partner Brendan Murphy in April.
He found new love with Brazilian ballet dancer Andre after they met at a gay club in London, with the pair marrying at the Goring Hotel, London, in 2017.