1. Debra Ann McGee was born on 31 October 1958 and is an English television, radio and stage performer who is best known as the assistant and widow of magician Paul Daniels.
32 Facts About Debbie McGee
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Debbie McGee is a former ballet dancer and for three years was artistic director of her own ballet company.
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Debbie McGee was a finalist in BBC's 2017 Strictly Come Dancing and a winner of the 2019 Christmas Special, and has been a recurring member of the Loose Women panel.
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Debbie McGee was born in 1958 in Kingston upon Thames, to Patrick Debbie McGee and Lillian Howes.
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Debbie McGee has two younger siblings, a sister called Donna and a brother named Robert.
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When Debbie McGee was young her parents ran a corner shop.
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Debbie McGee attended Our Lady Immaculate RC Primary School in Tolworth, followed by Tolworth Girls' School, a secondary school in Tolworth.
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At the age of 16 Debbie McGee auditioned for and won a place at the Royal Ballet School.
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Debbie McGee was forced to flee the country and returned to the UK with little in the way of money and possessions.
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Debbie McGee met Daniels on 23 May 1979 at rehearsals for the show, which were held at a church hall in London.
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Debbie McGee later joined Dougie Squires's Second Generation troupe as a dancer, which involved touring Europe with acts including Chris de Burgh and James Last.
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Debbie McGee then performed in his London stage show It's Magic, which opened on 10 December 1980 and which, by the time it closed 14 months later, had become the longest running magic show ever to play in the West End.
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Debbie McGee achieved national and international fame through television appearances with Daniels.
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Daniels and Debbie McGee were married in Buckinghamshire in April 1988.
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In October 1991, Debbie McGee was one of the first female magicians to become a member of The Magic Circle, a society for British professional magicians.
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Debbie McGee celebrated by appearing on TV to perform a trick accompanied by Daniels as her assistant "The Lovely Paul", who was not allowed to speak during the performance.
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Debbie McGee was the 2017 winner of the Magic Circle's Maskelyne award "for services to British Magic", the same award that her husband received in 1988.
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Debbie McGee has been a recurring member of the Loose Women panel.
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Debbie McGee's pastimes include golf and she has played in celebrity charity events.
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In January 2019, Debbie McGee announced that she had overcome the early stages of breast cancer in 2018; after a small surgical procedure she had been given the all-clear.
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In 2004 Debbie McGee presented Box Jumpers, a two-part radio documentary about magician's assistants for BBC Radio 4.
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On 12 June 2018, Debbie McGee was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme My Teenage Diaries.
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Paul and Debbie McGee, was broadcast on BBC Two and subsequently Netflix.
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In 2001, Debbie McGee appeared in the documentary Paul Daniels in a Black Hole, which challenged Daniels to be recognised as a famed magician in the United States within one week.
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On 1 April 2007, Debbie McGee appeared along with her husband, Vanessa Feltz, and her then-fiance Ben Ofoedu in a celebrity edition of Channel 4's hit reality television show Wife Swap.
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On 14 September 2010, Debbie McGee appeared on the celebrity version of Come Dine with Me.
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In 2012, Debbie McGee made a cameo appearance as herself in an episode of the UK TV comedy drama Stella.
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In 2017, Debbie McGee appeared alongside Nigel Havers, Simon Callow and Lorraine Chase in Barging Loving Celebs.
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In December 2019, Debbie McGee appeared in the quiz show Tenable All Stars for a Christmas special.
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Debbie McGee worked alongside her husband in venues around the world.
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On 21 August 2013, Debbie McGee took part in the Dead Air Podcast, a show hosted by Nick Lee and Rob Oldfield.
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From 9 December 2016 to 1 January 2017, Debbie McGee starred in the pantomime Aladdin as Slave of the Ring at the Grand Opera House, York.