Paul O’Grady has shared a “bittersweet” photo of his alter ego with his fans.
The Birkenhead -born TV presenter took to Instagram over the weekend to reveal an image of Lily Savage with a chaperone and a former lover. Paul retired Lily’s stilettos in 2004 but her legacy as one of the UK's most iconic drag queens lives on.
The persona helped the comedian to achieve notable success in the London gay scene during the 1980s. Towards the end of Lily’s career, Paul got frustrated with the media who constantly continued to solely refer to him as a drag queen despite his other achievements.
He commented that Barry Humphries, who played the character of Dame Edna Everage, was “never called a drag act because he’s a heterosexual male, but I’m called one because I’m a gay man.” Regardless, Lily ended her career on a high note having added advert appearances for Ford Escort, Pretty Polly Tights and the soft drink Oasis to her resume.
READ MORE: I tried drag makeup for the first time and I’ve never felt more glamorous
The photo coincided with the 50th anniversary of Pride, which saw thousands march through the country’s capital to celebrate. The 67-year-old penned to his 692,000 followers: “Here’s another Pride Photo from 1992 courtesy of the Gordon Rainsford Archive.
"Here’s Lily with Brendan Murphy, my old flame of 25 years and the shadowy figure on the end draped in veils is Regina Fong who insisted on chaperoning Lily as it wasn’t appropriate for her to be seen unaccompanied with a young man. (Regina’s words, not mine)
"I think this was taken at Brockwell Park as that year there was a fairground.”
The former drag queen said it was a “bittersweet photo” for him to share as out of the three pictured, he is the “only one still alive.” He added: “Pride was not only about visibility but also a time to celebrate and believe me we knew how to do that. I hope everyone has as much of a good time as we used to have.”
Despite being a household name for many, Paul said Lily wouldn’t be making a return anytime soon as he would be “cancelled” if he were to bring back the drag act’s questionable sense of humour to today’s society.
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