BBC star found love with third wife just six months after becoming widower

Paul Merton is a celebrated comedy legend after his years of bringing slapstick charm to Have I Got News For You.

But behind the funnyman act, the comic has faced deeply painful periods, including the devastating loss of his second wife, Sarah Parkinson, in 2003.

Merton is now happily married to fellow comedian Suki Webster, and has spoken candidly about how love returned to his life sooner than he ever expected.

READ MORE: Jamie Laing left humiliated after fans point out the mortifying blunder in racy post

READ MORE: Rylan Clark confirms 'secret' new romance with 'lovely' man after Rob Rinder rumours

He shared: "I suppose this was about six or seven months [after Sarah's death]. 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, who performs alongside Paul in the Comedy Store Players, added: "When you fall in love, you fall in love."

The pair first connected during a troupe tour of India, where both were struck down with food poisoning. They struck up a conversation while watching a magician perform in the garden of a dimly lit bar where they were nursing brandy and colas.

Paul has since joked that while the act wasn’t much good, there was "magic in the air" between the two of them.

That was the beginning of a partnership that has turned into over a decade of marriage and countless nights on stage together. For Paul, Suki’s presence was an unexpected light at the end of the tunnel after a dark time.

His second wife Sarah Parkinson was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer before the couple's wedding, and passed away just three months after they tied the knot. She was only 41 at the time.

Paul has previously recalled how he sought solace in laughter after her death, attending a Comedy Store performance just six days later to find comfort in the shared joy of an audience. "It goes back to that thing about the release, the relief, it takes you somewhere else," he explained.

Comedy has been a constant in Merton’s life, both as a career and as a source of stability during difficult times. He was born Paul Martin, but adopted the stage name Merton early on and first broke through with Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 1988.

But just as his career was blossoming, the show was postponed and he had a mental breakdown that sent him into the Maudsley psychiatric hospital for six weeks.

Despite his struggles, he is still able to approach that period of his life with a sense of humour, and has spoken about how it felt to be someone who was struggling with very different issues from everyone else in the hospital, saying: "I was in a room for group therapy after breakfast every morning. 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."

Thankfully things took a turn for the better for Merton as by 1990 he had become a household name, and the comedian has remained a fixture on Have I Got News For You ever since.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , and Threads.