Kate Garraway declares ‘life has to start’ in wake of husband’s death

Kate Garraway has declared her “life has to start” again in the wake of her husband Derek Draper’s death.

The ‘Good Morning Britain’s co-host, 56, is back at work on the flagship ITV breakfast show a week after the funeral of her political lobbyist partner Derek, who was laid to rest on 2 February after he lost his battle with the devastating effects of coronavirus he first contracted in March 2020.

While wearing a black jumper, she said on the show her “Life has to start” in a video call.

And when she was back at her desk in the studio on Thursday (08.02.24) she told her fellow presenter Ben Shephard, 49: “It’s odd. I feel very weird. I got some hugs backstage but I said, ‘Nobody be nice to me.’

“|I keep saying, ‘Just treat me normally.’”

Kate also described her shock at being called a widow for the first time when a deliveryman left a parcel at the North London home she used to share with Derek.

She added: “Do you know, the other day somebody called me a widow.

“It was an Amazon delivery person who said, ‘So sorry for your loss now you’re a widow.’

“I suddenly realised what everyone goes through. Every single moment is something new and we have all just got to go through it.”

ITV presenter Andi Peters, 53, told Kate: “It’s an absolute pleasure to see you back behind that desk.”

And ‘GMB’ entertainment reporter Richard Arnold, 54, got laughs when he told how he was covered in champagne at Derek’s funeral.

He added: “This steward who was holding a tray of champagne, six glasses, just bumped straight into me.

“I was drenched from head to toe. When I got home to look after my mum she said, ‘Had a drink?.’”

Derek – who had children Darcey, 17, and Billy, 14, with Kate – died on 3 January, and was among the first in the UK to fall seriously ill with Covid.

He spent 13 months in hospitals, making him Britain’s longest suffering in-patient with the condition.