Kate Garraway fights back tears as she returns to GMB after husband Derek Draper’s ‘challenging’ birthday… before revealing she’s faced abuse for ‘laughing and joking’ on the show
- The presenter revealed she took a couple of days off to celebrate husband Derek’s birthday
- She revealed that as she couldn’t visit him, they marked the ‘challenging’ occasion by having a cake on Facetime
- Kate also admitted that she’s faced abuse from trolls for ‘laughing and joking’ on GMB while her husband recovers in hospital
- Kate recovered from COVID-19 but her husband has been in intensive care since March, and was placed in a coma after testing positive for the virtus
- Last week Kate reassured fans that Derek, who has been hospitalised since March, ‘is very much still with us,’ but it is still a ‘waiting game’
- Last month, Kate announced that Derek had been declared COVID-free, but remained in a ‘critical condition’
- She recently revealed her ‘desperate’ husband Derek almost died ‘six times’ while hospitalised, adding it’s ‘a miracle’ he survived
- Kate and Derek married in 2005, and share daughter Darcey, 14, and son Billy, 11
Kate Garraway fought back tears as she returned to Good Morning Britain on Wednesday after an absence to celebrate her husband Derek Draper’s birthday.
The presenter, 53, told Adil Ray that while Derek is still recovering from COVID-19 in hospital, she celebrated with a cake on Facetime, admitting the day was ‘challenging’ for herself and their two children.
Kate told Adil: ‘It was obviously a challenging one under the circumstances. We managed to FaceTime him and sing Happy Birthday.’
She’s back! Kate Garraway, 53, fought back tears as she returned to Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, after an absence to celebrate her husband Derek Draper’s birthday
She continued: ‘We had a cake which we ate over FaceTime. It was very challenging for the kids, but they are doing it brilliantly.
‘We managed to do it with Derek’s family and technically hook up and sing Happy Birthday. We just hope the love seeps through.’
Kate went onto reveal that her GMB co-presenter Laura Tobin gifted her a rosebush as a ‘sign of hope,’ which begun to flower on Derek’s birthday.
The visibly emotional star added that her daughter Darcey, 14, turned to gardening to keep busy when Derek first fell ill back in March.
She added: ‘They’ve come and gone and we’re picking tomatoes that we grew from the seed.
‘It’s amazing how nature helps you mark the passage of time, which is therapeutic in a way.
‘We’d say ”we’ll plant these and when dad’s better next year he can see them come up”. We’ve been trying to keep things moving forward which helps.’
Kate struggled to hide her tears as she said: ‘Sorry, I don’t know why I’ve gone all…. I’ve gone all sort of, you know…
‘We’ll cheer up in a minute. I just wanted to explain because a lot of people were in touch asking why I hadn’t been in work. It’s nice that people care, thank you.’
Following her return to work, Kate also made the shocking admission that she’s faced abuse from trolls on social media for trying to remain positive during her time on the show by ‘laughing and joking.’
During an interview with paramedic Laura Heath – who was abused online for sharing a glamorous selfie during the COVID-19 crisis – Kate admitted she’s been criticised for ‘having a laugh’ on the show while her husband is still recovering in hospital.
She said: ‘We’ve talked about this, with me doing this show, if we’re having a laugh and joke – because that’s our job in the morning to cheer everybody – people then say does that mean you’re not worried about Derek or you’re not feeling sad about.
‘They see her posting and posing when she should be saving lives, not really understanding we’re all human and the most important thing is we have to laugh and smile. Nothing warrants abuse.’