Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway surrounded herself by her pals as she lifted a drink to her late husband Derek Draper following his tragic death last year aged 56
Kate Garraway has marked her late husband Derek Draper’s birthday by raising a toast alongside her pals. The Good Morning Britain host, 57, has been open about the difficulties she has faced following her husband’s death.
Derek sadly died in January last year at the age of 56, nearly four years after battling complications from Covid-19. Following his death, Kate shared an emotional tribute, revealing that she had stayed by his side during his final moments.
She had opened the doors of their home to film crews, who documented her life as she juggled being a carer, mum and TV star. It comes after Darius Danesh’s ex-wife speaks out after pop star died after refusing operation.
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Kate was supported by her pals as she marked Derek’s 58th birthday. The group beamed for a selfie together as Kate raised a glass up to the camera.
She was joined by BBC Radio 6’s Chris Hawkins, meteorologist Clare Nasir and her manager Vickie. “Happy 58th birthday, Derek Draper…Cheers to you. We miss you x,” Vickie said.
Kate re-shared the photo to her own social media account and her 1.3million followers. She heartbreakingly shared the sad news of Derek’s death last year.
“It breaks my heart to say that my wonderful husband Derek has passed away,” she wrote in a heartfelt post. “He spent his last days surrounded by family, and I held his hand through those final hours.”
Since Derek’s death, Kate has been candid about her financial burden as well as difficulties of parenting daughter Darcey, 19, and son William, 15, solo.
During a discussion on Good Morning Britain, she revealed that the cost of Derek’s round-the-clock care left her in overwhelming debt. “At the time of his passing, we had two unresolved appeals for funding, but they just kept getting delayed,” she said.
“I’m fortunate to have a well-paying job, but even with that, I had to cover all the costs myself. Now I’m left with an unmanageable amount of debt. If I’m in this position, how are other families supposed to cope?”
In March, Kate shared how parenting alone has been her most challenging aspect of Derek no longer being there. Speaking to Daily Mail Weekend Magazine, Kate said: “This is the hardest part of grieving.
“There are so many moments where I just think, ‘Derek, where are you?’” She reflected on how parenting had always been a shared responsibility between them, something they did instinctively without assigning strict roles.
“Now, I have to take on everything – the fun parent, the one keeping everyone on track, and the one panicking, yelling, ‘Oh my God, you’re going to fail everything!’” she admitted. “I make so many mistakes, but don’t we all? Is there really such a thing as a perfect mother?”
Kate also shared how she is hit by a “tsunami of sadness” in the middle of the night as she wakes up panicking thinking she hasn’t given Derek his medicines.
“Being a carer, its joys and its responsibilities, stays with you even after you have lost the person,” she wrote in a piece for The Sun. “I still wake up in the middle of the night panicking that I haven’t given him his medicine, or that I have forgotten to move him every hour to prevent the painful contractions in his limbs.
“The next second I realise he no longer needs that care. There is a moment of relief — that I did not let him down — before a tsunami of sadness hits.”
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