Sandi Toksvig forced to have police protection at 'emotional' second wedding

Nichola Murphy
·2-min read
Sandi Toksvig in a pink jacket and kissing her wife on their wedding day
(Shutterstock)

Sandi Toksvig has described her 2014 wedding with Debbie as "perfect", but a few people she hadn't planned to include in her 2,000-strong guest list were police protection officers.

The Great British Bake Off host, 66, and psychotherapist Debbie first had a civil partnership in 2007, ten years after she split from Peta Stewart following "unbearable pressures" to be the perfect couple after the TV star came out as gay.

Debbie Toksvig in a white jacket and Sandi Toksvig in a blue suit at their vow renewal
Debbie Toksvig and Sandi Toksvig renewed their vows at Royal Festival Hall in 2014 (Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock)

When same-sex marriage was legalised in 2014, Sandi and Debbie hosted another celebration at Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank to renew their vows. As well as celebrity guests such as David Mitchell and Sandi's three children with Peta – Jesse, Megan and Theo – police protection were in attendance after the couple received "ongoing death threats."

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The QI host told the Cambridge Union: "I have had a lot of death threats. My wife and I, when we got married I had to have a close protection police officer beside me.

Sandi Toksvig in a blue suit holding hands with wife Debbie
The Great British Bake Off host admitted she received death threats before and after her wedding (Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock)

"It is still ongoing, but you can’t let that rule your life. This is who I am. I am not going to live in the shadows of anything."

She added that her usual approach is to be "charming and funny. They hate it. I feel sorry for people who don’t like our community, who don’t know much about it."

Sandi's wedding

Debbie Toksvig and Sandi Toksvig 'The Wizard of Oz' musical press night at The London Palladium, UK
The couple had a civil partnership in 2007 (Cove/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)

Photos show Sandi looking radiant in a pale blue bridal suit and ruffled blouse holding yellow flowers as she walked down the aisle on the arm of her daughter Megan, who wore a strapless lemon bridesmaid dress.

Debbie chose a more traditional bridal white jacket but added a quirky modern twist with her striped silk shirt and black platform heels.

Looking back at her wedding day during an appearance on This Morning, Sandi said: "I keep grinning. On Saturday my partner and I renewed our vows. We did it in a very quiet understated way - on stage at the festival hall! All my children were part of it and two thousand people attended... so a tiny little thing!

"You know when something just is perfect and you couldn't have made it any better? It was perfect. The most emotional moment for me was my daughter Megan who gave me away, we walked into the audience and two thousand people stood up and cheered. It was very emotional for me."

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