Dragons’ Den Deborah Meaden's very private marriage - and one thing she will never do at home

Deborah Meaden has been married to her husband Paul for more than three decades and the Dragons' Den star has called getting married "the best thing" she ever did

Deborah Meaden has carved out an extremely successful career in the world of business and away from the spotlight there’s one man who has cheered her on every step of the way - her husband.

Having joined Dragons’ Den back in 2006, Deborah is one of the longest-serving Dragons on the show and has become a staple on our TV screens. During her time on the BBC show, the 65-year-old has invested in a whole host of businesses from quick drying beach towels to a contemporary fashion brand.

But while she is known for supporting businesses as part of her role in the Den, away from the cameras she is supported by her husband Paul. The pair met back in around 1985 when he was working at her family business Weststar Holidays.

Sadly the couple went their separate ways, though their split proved to be short-lived after Deborah returned from a trip to Venezuela. After returning to London, the pair rekindled their relationship and later married in 1993.

In an interview with The Guardian, the TV personality gushed over her husband. As she described Paul, she called him “the most competent man in the world”. She also opened up on their relationship and how they ended up getting married.

“It just works. Listen, everybody goes through ups and downs. But there was never a point at which… no, that’s not true. We split up before we got married. He wanted to get married and I absolutely didn’t. We used to have those circular arguments, him saying, ‘but why won’t you get married?’,” she explained.

“And me saying, ‘what’s the point, we’re gonna stay together for the rest of our lives?’– ‘if that’s right then Deborah, why don’t we just get married?’ You know, we’d go round and round in circles. I still say to this day, he made me, he forced me. I was literally standing there outside the church, saying, ‘I’m doing this for Paul’. He knows this! But I also say, and he knows this, too, that it’s the best thing I ever did.”

More than three decades since tying the knot, Paul still manages to surprise Deborah with romantic gestures. After she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, Paul took it upon himself to have secret dancing lessons so they could hit the ballroom together.

“When I was doing Strictly, Paul could see how much I loved dancing. I loved doing Strictly. He secretly took dancing lessons. I’d been so mean to him for 30 years, so horrible to him, and then he goes and does that,” she said on The Graham Norton Show in 2021.

“As a result of that he grew to love dancing, we both love dancing, we went off to Buenos Aires to learn Argentine Tango and now we both dance for four hours a week. It’s a lovely thing because we all have busy lives. Just being face to face with your partner for four hours of your week.”

Elsewhere, the Dragons’ Den star also gave fans a peek inside her home life in 2011 after revealing the one thing doesn’t do. “I hate cleaning so as a student I used to work in a bar at night in order to pay someone to clean my flat. I’ve never told anyone that,” she told The Telegraph.

“I still don’t do any domestic chores; my husband Paul is in charge. It sounds terrible, doesn’t it?”

Meanwhile Deborah, who has cats, horses, sheep, rescue dogs, ducks and geese, has previously opened up about her love for animals. “There’s something in me that thinks, if I can, ‘I’ll give these guys a good life’,” she told The Daily Mail in 2008.

“We've got two dogs, too, but they're definitely Paul's. I'm not a dog person. They require too much attention. I don't like anything with too much dependency. Children are very dependent, which is probably why we never had them.”