![\"Malcolm](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_Paul-OGrady-death.jpg\")
Malcolm Prince has opened up about life with Paul O’Grady in a fascinating new book(Image: PA)<\/p>\nAn extraordinary new book about Paul O’Grady by his friend and producer Malcolm Prince sheds new light on the star with gripping new testimony from his friends, family and celebrity friendsMalcolm Prince has opened up about life with Paul O’Grady in a fascinating new book(Image: PA)<\/p>\n
Even when faced with a life-saving heart operation, Paul O\u2019Grady\u2019s<\/a> first thought wasn\u2019t for himself – it was for everyone else. His close friend and producer Malcolm Prince<\/a> has revealed how in the final months of his life, the star refused an implantable defibrillator because he didn\u2019t want to let anyone down.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019d signed up to do the musical Annie, he signed up to do the dog show, \u201c Malcolm tells the Mirror<\/a>. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to go back into hospital to have another procedure and then spend time recuperating. He wanted to get on and live his life but also work. He didn\u2019t want to let people down.\u201d Ultimately, the device could have saved his life.<\/p>\n Paul, who had a history of heart problems, eventually died from a sudden cardiac arrhythmia <\/a>on March 28, 2023. But the TV star had been adamant he didn\u2019t want the medical intervention. A few months earlier, Paul had spent a week in William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, and the thought of being sidelined again was unbearable.<\/p>\n In a text message to his daughter Sharyn, he wrote: \u201cThe cardiologist just wants me to have a defib. But no way am I having one of them. He\u2019s being over cautious and besides, I\u2019m nowhere near as bad as I was.\u201d<\/p>\n Joan Marshrons, his manager and close friend, had explained the procedure to Paul at length. But there was no convincing him. \u201cIn the last few years, he worried about his own body letting him down and that was all very depressing for him,\u201d says Joan. \u201cHe was scared of losing control and I think that\u2019s why he wouldn\u2019t have the pacemaker because he didn\u2019t want to be on camera or in front of an audience when the thing kicked in \u2026 he would have been embarrassed about it all.\u201d<\/p>\n The final few months of Paul\u2019s life are featured in Malcom\u2019s extraordinary new book Paul O\u2019Grady \u2013 Not The Same Without You which is being serialized by the Daily and Sunday Mirror. It was written with the blessing of Paul\u2019s daughter Sharyn <\/a>and features candid testimony from his family, as well as Paul\u2019s friends, colleagues, and celebrity friends.<\/p>\n Remarkably, for a man who was so open about many facets of his life, the book sheds fascinating new light on the star, who held a special place in the heart of the public. \u201cIt would have been his 70th birthday this year, and I feel ready to tell his story, and I hope I\u2019ve done him justice,\u201d says Malcolm who sat alongside Paul for 14 years on his BBC<\/a> Radio 2 show.<\/p>\n Often Paul would diffuse the situation around his heart with humour. Malcolm recalls that he joked having a defibrillator would mean he couldn\u2019t walk past an electronic garage door without it opening automatically.<\/p>\n \u201cQuips aside, however, it seems his mind was made up,\u201d Malcolm writes. There were times also when Paul seemed to know his time was limited. Following his hospital visit, Paul\u2019s life-long friend Moira Stewart recalled a conversation in the car on the drive home.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we were driving along the lanes back home, he said to me, \u2018I\u2019m not going to be here for much longer.\u2019 I asked him what he meant and pushed him to tell me what the doctors had said to him. He was contemplative, I put my arm around him, and he just replied, \u2018That\u2019s it. I think I won\u2019t be here for much longer.\u2019\u201d He said something similar to Malcolm during a phone conversation weeks later.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a conversation I will never forget because he calmly ended our chat with, \u2018I won\u2019t make old bones, Malcolm.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Even weeks before his death, during a conversation about the death of someone close to Malcolm, Paul was saying about \u201cnot knowing what was round the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPaul joked about his own age and how he wouldn\u2019t be surprised if his own exit would be \u2018sooner rather than later,\u201d Malcolm writes. In their final meeting at Paul\u2019s farmhouse on the day of his death, Paul told Malcolm he was reviewing his will, saying the words just \u201cseemed to just hang in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n The book also explores for the first time how Paul may have had an eating disorder. \u201cUntil some of the people I\u2019d spoken to expressed it, I probably hadn\u2019t spotted it\u2026but it makes sense,\u201d Malcolm says.<\/p>\n![\"Malcolm](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Paul-OGrady-death.jpg\")
Malcolm Prince with Paul O’Grady and his dog Conchita(Image: PA)<\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_PAUL-OGRADY-FOR-THE-LOVE-OF-ANIMALS.jpg\")
Paul O’Grady in his last TV appearance (Image: ITV)<\/p>\n
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Paul O’Grady was a Mirror favourite (Image: Sunday Mirror)<\/p>\n![\"Malcolm](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_POG_jacket.jpg\")
Malcolm Prince’s amazing new book<\/p>\n