I think it's rather sweet to be honest. She gets dissed in the mags because she looked fat (!) and he rushes to her defence, like a knight in shining armour, albeit a rather small portly, hairy backed ageing one.
Brilliant!
I am no fan of Paul Daniels - but he can take a joke at his own expense as he has been proving recently. Good on them I say.
(But still - yuck...)