Skip to main content

Home News News World

Watch: Paul O’Grady’s moving eulogy for Cilla Black

By Nick Bond

Entertainer Paul O’Grady today paid touching tribute to his late friend Cilla Black, describing her as his ‘soulmate’ in an emotional – and frequently hilarious – eulogy at her Liverpool funeral today.

“I firmly believed Cilla was indestructible,” said Paul, explaining that he’d always thought he’d go first.

Cilla2

O’Grady’s stories include the pair’s exploits everywhere from New York to Barbados, Spain and the Maldives, taking in seedy bars and unexpected hospital visits. O’Grady said he was shocked when he learned that Cilla considered he’d ‘taught her how to laugh again’ after the death of her husband.

He also said he’d been struggling to process her death: “I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” he confessed. “The light went off a couple of weeks ago and it hasn’t come back on yet.”

Much-loved singer and TV personality Black died of natural causes in her Spanish villa on August 1. She was 72 years old.

Watch O’Grady’s lovely speech in full below:

More stories:

Cilla Black’s life story ‘to be turned into West End musical’

Tributes flood Twitter in remembrance of Cilla Black