He is perhaps best known for his slapstick persona on Have I Got News For You, entertaining viewers and the panel alike.
Yet behind his many jokes and beaming smile, Paul Merton has struggled with heartbreak and loss, including the death of his beloved second wife and suffering a mental breakdown.
Now, as he prepares to go on tour with his comic wife Suki Webster, Paul has opened up about how it ‘felt natural’ falling in love with Suki, six months after losing his wife to cancer.
He was first married to actress Caroline Quentin, with the couple separating in 1997 after seven years of marriage.
Three years later, he wed actress Sarah Parkinson; who had been Caroline’s understudy in Arthur Smith’s Live Bed Show, in which they both starred.
Tragically, she was a diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer before they wed. She died in September 2003, in Paul’s arms, three months after their wedding at the age of 41.
Eight months after Sarah’s death he was pictured holding hands with Suki, who appears at the Comedy Store in the West End.
Paul Merton has revealed it ‘felt natural’ falling in love with third wife Suki Webster six months after becoming a widower (pictured with Suki in 2024)
Now reflecting on how his relationship with Suki began, he joked that their romance was sparked by brandy, cola and Imodium.
He explained the pair bonded while their comedy troupe – The Comedy Store Players – toured India and they were both struck down with a stomach bug.
In a joint chat with The Times, the pair explained that they sat talking in a hotel bar while nursing brandy and colas in the hope it would settle their stomachs.
Paul recalled that the in the bar there was a magician who wasn’t any good, but he noted there was ‘magic in the air’, because he and Suki clicked.
‘I suppose this was about six or seven months [after Sarah’s death],’ he explained.
‘I don’t think it’s one of those decisions you can make. You see what happens. You’re not looking necessarily, because you have to grieve.
‘But we were in India, we were on brandy and there was a magician in the dark. You don’t think anything except, this is great fun. You don’t think, “oh, is this right or wrong?” It felt natural. It felt OK.’
Suki added: ‘When you fall in love, you fall in love.’
Paul’s second wife Sarah Parkinson was a diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer before they wed. She died in September 2003 – in Paul’s arms – three months after their wedding
He was first married to actress Caroline Quentin , with the couple separating in 1997 after seven years of marriage (pictured in 1995)
Paul previously revealed that he found refuge in comedy when Sarah passed away.
Speaking to the Daily Mail’s Event magazine in 2019, he recalled: ‘She died on a Monday. Six days later I went down to The Comedy Store to watch the Sunday show, just to be in a room where 300 people were laughing.
‘It goes back to that thing about the release, the relief, it takes you somewhere else.’
A week later, Paul got up on stage again himself.
‘I would have done a gig earlier after Sarah died but I didn’t want it to be misinterpreted as somehow not caring,’ he mused.
‘When you’re improvising and you’re in the moment, it’s as refreshing for you as it is for the audience. Plus, we have the extra joy of creating that laughter.
‘In my more romantic moments I think there’s no higher calling.’
Reflecting on how his relationship with Suki began, he joked that their romance was sparked by brandy, cola and Imodium while they battled a stomach bug (pictured in 2010)
Born Paul Martin, he changed to Merton for Equity reasons.
His big break came in 1988 with the improvisational Channel 4 show Whose Line Is It Anyway? But just as things were taking off, Paul was admitted to the Maudsley psychiatric hospital for six weeks after a breakdown caused by a combination of overwork, the postponement of his Channel 4 series and anti-malaria pills.
‘I was in a room for group therapy after breakfast every morning,’ he recalled.
‘There was somebody who had been kicked out of their council house. Somebody else said his daughter was heavily into drugs. All these terrible things were happening to them.
‘My thing was that somebody had cancelled a television series. I never said that in the session, because I knew: “That’s awkward.” I still had a sense of proportion and a sense of humour about it.’
His eight-year first marriage to fellow comedian Caroline began the same year, 1990.
After the Maudsley, he was offered a new comedy series but turned down Have I Got News For You at first, saying he didn’t do topical jokes or politics.
However, 25 years on he remains a mainstay on the show.
