TRAGIC DALE: I'VE HAD ENOUGH
Star hinted at suicide, pals reveal
DESPERATE Dale Winton confided in pals that he’d “had enough” and hinted at killing himself.
The depressed TV host, found dead on Wednesday, asked one close friend: “Do you think there would be a turnout at the funeral?”
TRAGIC Dale Winton hinted at killing himself, close pals revealed last night.
DJ Steve Allen said Dale told him he had “had enough” and hated getting old.
The LBC radio presenter told how the 62-year-old would ask him: “Do you think there’d be a turnout at the funeral? Please make sure everyone turns up.”
He added: “He didn’t like the ageing process, he hated it.
“He used to say to me: ‘I’ve had enough.’
“I feel happy for him that he’s in a place now where he’s probably going to be eternally young.
“Deep down he was a bit lonely. He needed a partner. He has had some bad picks.”
The Supermarket Sweep star was found collapsed at his new rented home at 4.10pm on Wednesday.
Scotland Yard detectives are treating his deathas “unexplained” but do not believe it was suspicious.
Dale sold his £2.6million London town house in Regent’s Park, where he lived for 17 years, just three weeks before he died.
He started renting a £3,000-a-month semidetached property in plush Whetstone, north London.
Neighbours said he appeared “frail” and “not quite right” in recent days.
His curtains were “usually closed” but his lights would be on, they revealed.
Tributes flooded in from showbusiness pals.
Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams said: “Dale was the best company, always outrageous and hilarious.”
Ant McPartlin’s estranged wife, make-up artist Lisa Armstrong, said: “Absolutely gutted, only saw him last week. He was one of life’s true gentleman, a heart of gold with a wicked sense of humour.”
Camp comedian Julian Clary called him a “kind, sweet, truthful man”.
Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness paid tribute to “the perfect host”. But close friends had feared Dale was becoming a recluse.
Channel 5 confirmed the remaining episodes of his final show, Dale’s Florida Fly Drive, will be aired in “early summer”.
The Star Says: Page 6