I WAS CILLA’S BOUNCER, SAYS PAUL
PAUL O’Grady has told how he used to act as Cilla Black’s bodyguard during nights out.
The For The Love Of Dogs host trained as a boxer when he was a child but his dad later banned him from fighting.
Paul, 63, told how his fighting skills came in handy while out drinking with the Blind Date star.
He said: “I used to box at school until my dad banned me for being too violent.
“I’ve never been afraid to get stuck in. If someone was offensive, I would go straight up and smack. That’s why Cilla used to love going out with me because she always felt protected.
“If anybody started, I’d go ‘excuse me, you’ve bought her a drink, you haven’t bought her time, f*** off’.
“I was like her bodyguard. I had to be like a bouncer around her because she was so soft she put up with all sorts.”
Paul and Cilla were best friends until she died in August 2015, aged 72. Chatting about another of his showbiz pals, Barbara Windsor, Paul said: “Barbara is still Barbara and doing really well.
“She knows who I am and has never not recognised me. Alzheimer’s is heartbreaking but she is doing fine.”
Chatting at the Virgin Holidays Attitude Awards, Paul added: “If I got Alzheimer’s no one would know because they would just think it is normal behaviour.
“Some mornings I wake up and I don’t know if I’m Snow White or Fred West.”