Magician Paul Daniels’ son has slammed Debbie McGee’s claims that they’ve made up, saying she doesn’t even have his phone number.
Paul Jr, 61, alleged that he hadn’t heard anything about plans for a reunion to scatter his dad’s ashes, which his stepmother discussed in an interview last month, while speaking to The Mirror.
Tensions between the pair have been strained in the past, with him calling the former dancer, 62, a ‘false witch’ and saying she was ‘only good’ for a job in McDonald’s in the months after his father’s death in 2016.
Not having it: Magician Paul Daniels’ son (pictured in an undated photo) has slammed Debbie McGee’s claims that they’ve made up, saying she doesn’t even have his phone number
Chatting about the apparent family meeting to mark the anniversary of his father’s death, Paul Jr raged: ‘First I’ve heard of it. She doesn’t have my phone number, email or address so how is she going to invite me?’
He added: ‘I’m sure if we had made up she would have allowed me to have a memento of dad, which she hasn’t, not even a pair of cufflinks.’
Paul Jr also took aim at Debbie’s decision to star in Kitchen Magic ads, where she is seen clicking her fingers to transform the room, saying he thought she was being ‘disrespectful’ as his dad didn’t use camera tricks.
MailOnline has contacted Debbie’s representative for further comment.
It was reported just last month that Debbie and her stepson had made up and were on talking terms after they had a furious public row over the magician’s estate.
Claims: Debbie, 62, had previously claimed that she was inviting her stepsons – including Paul Jr – to scatter some of her late husband’s ashes to mark the fifth anniversary of his death (she is pictured with her husband of 28 years in 2006
Debbie claimed that she isn’t ‘holding grudges’ about the past, telling the Sunday Mirror ‘everything is fine now’.
The former Strictly contestant also discussed her intention to scatter some of her late husband’s ashes, saying Paul Jr will be invited along with Paul’s two other sons from his first marriage.
Debbie and Paul Jr’s relationship was very strained after the magician’s death in 2016 as Debbie received his £1.5m estate.
After his father’s death, Paul Jr called his stepmother a ‘jumped-up dancer with no talent’ and said she was ‘only good’ for a job in McDonald’s.
He also claimed that Debbie had promised to look after him financially when his father died before refusing him a penny.
Claims: Paul Jr also claimed that Debbie hasn’t ‘allowed him to have a memento of dad’ (Debbie and Paul Snr are pictured in an undated photo from when she was the magician’s assistant between 1979 and 1994)
Speaking on Loose Women in October 2016, Debbie claimed her husband’s son told her, ‘I’m leaving before I hit you’, after she explained he would not get a penny from his father’s will.
She added that she’d done her best by him, saying: ‘His father said he wouldn’t give him cash as he did like the pub and it would go on beer.’
During the interview, Debbie was joined by Paul’s supportive son Gary, and said that she wanted to ‘give her side of the story’, saying although Paul Jr claimed she’d left him ‘destitute’ by closing the shop, it was ‘losing thousands of pounds annually’.
She added: ‘Probate can take up to a couple of years, so all the money and the savings, are all frozen at the moment.’
Entertainer Paul left his entire estate to his wife, but there was only £500,000 left after duties and debts were paid.
Close bond: Debbie was married to Paul for 28 years and also worked with him on his magic routines for 10 years
Ahead of Debbie’s Loose Women appearance in 2016, Paul Jr said he wants ‘nothing to do with her’ after she closed down the magic shop he had opened with his father in Wigan nine years ago.
Mr Daniels Jnr, who was once convicted of growing £89,000 of cannabis, was at the time unemployed and on the dole.
He is the magician’s eldest son from his first marriage to Jacqueline Skipworth. The pair, who had three sons, divorced in 1975 and Daniels later married Miss McGee.
Debbie revealed during the show that while she got on very well with her husband’s other sons, Martin and Gary, she has never shared a close bond with Paul Jr.
She said: ‘He’s been a problem child. I’m close to the others, there is no hatred there, but he has never been friendly to me. He’s not even loving to his own mother.
‘But my husband was wonderful and this was his son. It’s been seven months since Paul died and it’s been really horrible.
‘He’s sent me threatening messages but he’s still my late husband’s son. I couldn’t hate him. I couldn’t do that to his dad. I felt like I had turned a corner after six months with my grief. But Paul Jr believes what he believes. It’s held me back.’
Difficult: Tensions between Debbie and her stepson have been strained in the past, with him calling the former dancer, 62, a ‘false witch’ after his father’s death in 2016 (Debbie and Paul Snr are pictured during a magic routine in an undated picture)
While speaking on the doorstep of his rented home in Wigan at the time, Mr Daniels Junior, then 56, told the Daily Mail: ‘She’s got nothing going for her now. There is not much money to be made in McDonald’s – that’s all she is good for nowadays.’
And he had previously told The Sun: ‘Debbie McGee is nothing but a false witch who will struggle to survive without my father’s name attached to her.
‘Now she’s just a jumped-up dancer with no talent. She is running around like a sweet and innocent widow but she doesn’t fool me. I’ve put up with her for years for the sake of my dad but now that he’s gone I want nothing to do with her.’
He also claimed that he was almost left homeless after the shop was closed down in May and was forced to contact employment experts in order to obtain a £3,500 redundancy payment from Miss McGee.
The Paul Daniels Magic Party Shop was in his father’s name and so was left to Miss McGee in the will. However Debbie later said she has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help the magician’s son.
Staying positive: The dancer wowed audiences with her impressive moves while competing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2017
She added: ‘I did discuss the future of the shop with Paul Sr before he did panto last Christmas and we had set everything in motion. We still had six years left on the lease but it was cheaper to pay the basic costs than keep losing thousands on it.
She continued: ‘I decided to pay Paul Jr his money in two instalments as his father said he wouldn’t give him cash as he did like the pub and it would go on beer.’
Loose Women offered Paul Jr the right of reply at the time and he said: ‘I’ve always done jobs and I don’t ask for help. I just wanted the redundancy I was owed to be sorted. I didn’t want a million pounds. But Debbie wasn’t replying to my phone calls.
He continued: ‘I am willing to bury the hatchet. I don’t want to tear the family apart.’
Debbie responded: ‘I am happy for that to happen. I feel sorry for him. We all have a lot of love and he doesn’t have that.
‘I didn’t reply to him as everything I said to help him was met with abuse. He flipped his lid. Once he stormed out and said, “I’m leaving otherwise I’ll hit you”.’
Debbie and Paul were married for 28 years and she served as his assistant between 1979 and 1994. He famously referred to her as the ‘lovely Debbie McGee’.
Couple: Debbie and Paul were married for 28 years and she served as his assistant between 1979 and 1994. He famously referred to her as the ‘lovely Debbie McGee’ (pictured in 1992)