Kate Garraway has said being called a widow for the first time after the loss of her husband “took my breath away”.
The presenter’s husband Derek Draper died last month aged 56, after a long health battle that began when he contracted Covid in 2020. The former political adviser spent more than year in hospital and needed round the clock care when he went home, but suffered a cardiac arrest in December and passed away in January.
Kate took some time off from Good Morning Britain after Derek’s death but has now returned to the studio, where she has been open about what she is going through.
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Talking to co-host Ben Shephard about how someone recently referred to her, she said: “Somebody called me a widow for the first time, took my breath away. It was an Amazon delivery person who said, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss now that you’re a widow’.”
(Image: Getty Images)
The star, who has two children with her late husband, went on: “You suddenly realise, and I suddenly realised, what everyone goes through, that every single moment is something new, and we’ve all just got to get through it. Everybody has it with all sorts of things they’re facing.”
Derek first became ill with the coronavirus in March 2020 and was in hospital until April the following year when he went home to Kate and their daughter Darcey, 17, and son Billy, 14. He needed a lot of medical care and suffered health setbacks along the way, with TV star Kate documenting his journey on social media, in two moving documentaries and two books.
In January, she posted a message on Instagram telling her fans: “I’m sad to have to tell you all that my darling husband Derek has passed away. As some of you may know he has been critically ill following a cardiac arrest in early December which, because of the damage inflicted by Covid in March 2020, led to further complications.
“Derek was surrounded by his family in his final days and I was by his side holding his hand throughout the last long hours and when he passed.”
Kate, 56, thanked the medical staff “who fought so hard to save him and to make his final moments as comfortable and dignified as possible”. “Rest gently and peacefully now Derek, my love, I was so lucky to have you in my life,” she added.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
