Paul O’Grady: this heartattack feels like my final warning

Paul O’Grady has revealed he had his second heart attack nearly a week before he went to hospital as a result of the chest pains.

He told the Mirror: “I felt ill at the start of the week, the Monday or Tuesday, like I had a nasty hangover. But I just got on with things. I was even moving furniture around, making ice cream, the lot.”

“By Friday I had chest pains - real, shocking pains. I knew something was seriously wrong and got someone to take me to hospital. There was no panic, no ambulances, but I knew something was wrong.”

“It was only when they did tests that I found out it was a heart attack. They could tell from the damage that I’d had it almost all week.”

The TV presenter and comedian had an operation to clear a blocked artery and was kept in hospital for several days to recover. Now back home, Paul is taking medication to thin his blood while trying to relax.

Of his recovery, he said: “I’m like a broken toy - I’m f****d. I think I should really just be taken out and shot.”

“It’s fair to say I’m not at my best. I’ve had so many blood tests I’ve got the arms of a junkie. You wouldn’t even recognise me - I look more like Janis Joplin these days.”

“I go through days of feeling very tired. The tablets make me cough a lot and my blood’s so thin that if I bang myself on the sofa I get a great big bruise. I’m a bloody wreck.”

Paul gave up smoking and took up exercise after his first heart attack in 2002 but reverted to his old habit after ex-partner and manager Brendan Murphy died last year. Now he’s determined to give up smoking again: “I feel I’ve had more than my final warning.”

“I shouldn’t even be here. I’ve had two heart attacks in four years and it’s come as quite a shock.”

Paul’s Channel 4 chatshow was scheduled to return in the autumn but it has now been postponed to allow Paul more time to recover.