Debbie McGee revealed that some days she is so grief-stricken she can’t mention her late husband’s name.
While giving advice to a caller on a grief helpline for Channel 4’s ‘Celebrity Help Line’, the 60-year-old stage performer admitted that although there are some days she struggles to think about magician Paul Daniels – who passed away aged 77 in 2016 – she is "grateful" to have had him in her life for so long.
She said: "I think I’m only six or eight months further on than you are, and when I’m having my really bad moments I just keep saying to myself, ‘You can’t bring them back.’
"You have to just feel lucky that you had that wonderful person in your life for that length of time.
"The one thing I’ll say to you now is that the good days outweigh the bad days. There are days where I can’t mention Paul’s name and there are other days I can, I sometimes have to tell myself off.
"That’s our survival mechanism. Your life is going to go on and you will be happy."
Debbie was replying to a caller who asked her whether she believes in the afterlife.
She added: "I’ve always believed in life after death, and then when I married Paul he didn’t at all."
Debbie went on to ask the caller: "Why do you want to believe in it? Is it because you want to believe you will end up with them one day?
"I think that’s really important to you and that’s something that you should believe in.
"The only thing that would worry me about that is that it doesn’t allow you to move on but at the moment your grief is still so raw that that’s not in your head at all. Life has to go on without them."
Debbie McGee sometimes struggles to say Paul Daniels’ name
