Debbie McGee has said she is happy living alone but remains open to a new relationship, nearly a decade after the death of her husband, magician Paul Daniels. The 67-year-old, who still lives in the home they shared in Wargrave, Berkshire, said she has created a life she loves without needing a man.
“The way I've treated everything in my life is I let it happen,” she said. “I just find when you try and force stuff or you go looking for it, it usually doesn't occur. And that's my attitude to having a relationship. I've created a life that I'm really happy on my own. I've got fantastic family, fantastic friends, I go away on holiday. I don't need a man.”
Chemistry with Paul was immediate
McGee, a former ballet dancer, met Daniels in 1979 when she joined his summer show at the Britannia Pier Theatre in Great Yarmouth. They soon began dating, and she became his permanent assistant on the BBC1 series The Paul Daniels Magic Show.
“I think for me, it was a chemistry, obviously, his humour and his intellect. And the fact that I loved showbusiness and so did he – and he knew his job so well, we talked about work constantly and it wasn't a problem,” she said.
Despite being 20 years his junior and hating magic before they worked together, they became a double act in public and private. She made a conscious decision to prioritise the relationship over her solo career.
Life after loss and a cancer diagnosis
After Daniels died from a brain tumour aged 77 in 2016, McGee reached the finals of Strictly Come Dancing in 2017. In 2018, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, which she said was removed without scarring.
“I didn’t think it would happen to me,” she admitted. “But whatever’s thrown at you, it’s how you deal with it. You can let it pull you down or you can fight it and keep about it, and that’s what I did with breast cancer.”
New memoir and Paul's imagined reaction
McGee, who fled the Iranian Revolution as a 19-year-old dancer, has now written her autobiography, A Magical Life. She believes Daniels would have expected her to carry on.
“He would be happy, he would be proud, but I don't think he would be surprised. He would have expected me to carry on,” she said.
A Magical Life by Debbie McGee (Mirror Books) is out now in hardback, e-book and audiobook.
