Princess Diana’s gay former butler Paul Burrell strips off for ITV’s The Real Full Monty
Paul Burrell is best-known as Princess Diana’s former butler. (Getty/Supplied)
Celebrities including Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s gay former butler, are stripping off in ITV’s The Real Full Monty: Jingle Balls in a bid to raise money and awareness for cancer charities.
Burnell is joined by England rugby player and gay icon Ben Cohen, The Only Way is Essex star Pete Wicks, TOWIE icon Gemma Collins and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Nick Collier, better known as drag queen Ella Vaday, to name a few.
The show brings together a host of celebrities to raise awareness of checking the body for cancer.
Each person who is taking part has had their lives touched by cancer in some way, with Burell choosing to take part in the show after being diagnosed with prostate cancer last year.
Who is Paul Burrell?
Paul Burnell, who is 65, is best-known as Princess Diana’s former butler.
He was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer following going through a full medical check for the All-Stars version of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in South Africa last year.
Upon hearing the diagnosis he previously told PinkNews: “I sat there for a while, it must’ve been about 10 seconds actually but it seemed like forever, and I said to him, ‘Can you tell me that again? Because it didn’t quite go in. Are you saying I have cancer? And he said, ‘Yes, I am.’”
He is now in remission but credits the show for catching the signs early.
Following being diagnosed, Burrell has made it his aim to help gay men and others with the disease by talking diagnosis, treatment and sex.
Is Paul Burrell gay?
Yes, Paul Burnell is gay. Burrell, came out as gay publicly in March 2017, and in an interview that year he claimed Princess Diana had probably known about his sexuality, adding that his sexuality was “implicit” in everything he did.
When asked if Princess Diana would have accepted his sexuality, he said: “Yes, because she never saw sexuality in anyone.
“She never saw race in anyone, she never saw colour in anyone.
“She saw people, and she was me as a person, and she said, ‘I’ve got the ability to look inside you and see who you are and she liked what she saw,’ and that’s why I stayed so long.”
He married his former business partner shortly after coming out publicly
Burrell married his husband, Graham Cooper, shortly after coming out in 2017. The pair were former business partners.
Cooper is a lawyer, and Burrell said in an interview with The Mirror that they met on a train more than a decade before they wed.
Burrell told his ex-wife Maria Cosgrove, about his relationship with Cooper in 2016 and she and his two sons were supportive.
Prostate Cancer UK is asking every man to take their 30-second online risk checker, to help understand their risk, and what they can do about it. Find out more at prostatecanceruk.org/riskcheck
