TV presenter Paul appeared on Loose Women this morning and described the moment he was told Cilla had passed away.
"I couldn't believe it when I got the phone call, the press rang me up to tell me, and that's always the worst way to find out...and even now I sort of think, 'Oh, she's either in Barbados or Spain'," he admitted.
Remembering the times they spent together, Paul, 60, added:
"We used to go clubbing, we'd go on holiday together, spoke to her all the time, and even now I think, 'I must ring Cilla and tell her that'".
And he admits the moment he was asked to speak at the funeral was particularly hard.
"I sat there and I thought, 'I don't know what to say', and I thought I'll sort of suss the venue out, and of course I get in, so you've got the Bishop of Liverpool on the alter, full Requiem Mass, and I thought 'I'm gonna swear, I am going to swear with nerves'...so I sat there and I had no idea what I was going to say", the comedian revealed.
Cilla passed away at her home in Spain on August 1, aged 72 after suffering a stroke.
Tom Jones and Sir Cliff Richard were among the stars who paid tribute to the Blind Date presenter at her funeral.
ITV’s Loose Women is on weekdays at 12.30pm.