Paul Burrell wants to walk the red carpet with ‘shy’ husband Graham Cooper
Paul Burrell wants to show off his "shy" new husband Graham Cooper to the world on the red carpet.
The 58-year-old celebrity – who was the late Princess Diana’s former butler – married his partner Graham Cooper in a lavish ceremony in the Lake District this year in front of a congregation of 60 people including Paul’s sons Alex, 32, and Nick, 28, from his marriage to Maria Cosgrove.
After publicly revealing his sexuality, the next step for Paul – who divorced Maria last year after spending a decade separated from her – is to proudly attend a showbiz event with his husband to show their support for the LGBT community.
Speaking on UK TV show ‘Lorraine’ on Wednesday morning (04.12.17), Paul said: "He’s very shy, but I would like to one day to stand on a red carpet and hold his hand and say, ‘This is my husband,’ and we’re proud to support the LGBT cause, there’s no room for bigotry … He gave me the strength and support to come out. I don’t know if I’d have had the courage to do that without him, so it’s down to him."
Paul, 58, first met his lawyer "soulmate" on a train from London to Crewe more than a decade ago but never told the wider world he was a homosexual man until he announced his wedding plans a month ago.
Speaking about how the couple first met, he shared: "I looked at him and I thought, ‘You are him and I’ve been looking for you and it doesn’t happen.’ So as he got up to leave the train I thought if I let this man go I’m never going to see him again so this is your opportunity. So as he passed my seat I said, ‘Are you going to leave your number?’ And I thought, ‘Oh dear that’s a terrible line,’ and he had his card in his hand ready to leave it. He knew. We both knew."
Although he has now found the courage to come out, Paul has admitted he wouldn’t change being "32 years married with two wonderful boys" for "anything" and insists that Graham is very understanding about his past life and the attention that comes from being Diana’s confidante.
He said: "The most incredible thing I ever saw in my life was my children being born, nothing will replace that and he [Graham] knows that, he understands my previous life."
He explained how now the time is right for them to stand up and say "this is who we are".
He added: "He’s never been married, he wanted to be married and never in a million years did he ever realize that he could have been married. You know, 20 years ago this couldn’t happen, 10 years ago, no … and I can now hold his hand in public – he doesn’t have to walk two steps behind me [which he was doing before]."
The pair tied the knot at the Linthwaite Hotel in Bowness, Cumbria in matching tartan, designed by Paul himself. As a reminder of his time serving the late Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth, he opted to include red for Diana, gold for the Queen and green to remember his time on UK reality show ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’ in the tartan design. He also wore cufflinks handed to him by the late royal, who tragically died in a car crash in Paris, France, in 1997.
He said he was "overwhelmed" by the public’s response to his same-sex marriage and revealed: "I’ve got 70-year-old people coming into my flower shop and telling me, ‘congratulations’ and I never expected that. I didn’t expect people to be so understanding."
And he advises others who are considering "coming out" to tell their friends and family themselves.
He added: "Embrace who you are, sit with your loved ones, talk them through it and they won’t leave you. If they hear the story through someone else they will be bitter about it so you tell them face to face."
