AT HOME WITH JULIAN: ‘PETER ANDRE LET ME FEEL HIS PECS'

JULIAN CLARY ENTERTAINED OK!’S MICHELLE GARNETT FOR HOURS AT HIS IDYLLIC RURAL RETREAT WITH STORIES OF GHOSTLY HAPPENINGS AND THE NEAR-DROWNING OF DAME JOAN COLLINS

- MICHELLE GARNETT

Conducting an interview with a chicken on your lap isn’t the norm. But the presence of Julian Clary’s feathered friend Achmedda certainly added to the quirkiness of our memorable visit to his gorgeous Kent home in 2015.

The “national trinket” shares the seven-bedroom 15th century cottage with his husband Ian Mackley, who he married in 2016. Also in residence back then was the couple’s six-year-old Staffy/Jack Russell cross Albie and dear little Valerie, a deaf whippet cross who sadly passed away four years ago.

Julian, now 60, made his name in comedy but went on to attract additional fans for his theatre work, children’s novels and his 2012 Big Brother win. He’d taken a step back from the limelight in recent years and his postponed stand-up show Born To Mince is now rescheduled for 2021.

Behind Julian’s acerbic wit is a sensitive soul. His anxiety once drove him to the brink of suicide triggered by the loss of his partner Christopher in 1991, who had AIDS. Thankfully, as we chatted over a fresh pot tea on the patio, Julian confirmed he hadn’t suffered a debilitating day-long panic attack for years.