Twinkling diamonds, a Chanel bag or the latest Louboutins make the most covetable Christmas gifts, but for Kate Garraway there is just one thing she wants this Christmas – a breakthrough for her Covid-striken husband Derek Draper.
With her compassion, care and loyalty, Kate has won the nation’s heart as she has candidly shared Derek’s heartbreaking health battles since he contracted Covid in March 2020.
Derek, 56, a New Labour spin doctor turned psychotherapist, spent over a year in hospital fighting for his life. Somehow, he survived, but his recovery and rehabilitation is ongoing and he needs round-the-clock care.
Through it all, Kate has not only been there for their children, Darcey, 17, and William, 14, but she’s continued to bring her unique brand of sunshine to Good Morning Britain and taken on new challenges – including stepping into Piers Morgan’s shoes on ITV’s heavyweight chat show Life Stories.
Now she’s preparing to host Christmas for the Garraway and Draper clan, so that Derek can enjoy the festive season in his own home, surrounded by friends and family after his latest spell in hospital ends. “Derek’s in hospital having some treatment,” Kate, 56, tells OK!. “It’s not an emergency thing, it’s not a dramatic rush back into intensive care thank goodness – it’s something that started last year that we hope will lead to improvement.
“I’ve managed to get it in before the end of the year. It’s something we were trying to do in the summer but you know there are referrals and time and all of those things.”
The devastating complications of COVID have robbed Derek of his mobility, with the former political advisor now wheelchair-bound and suffering with communication difficulties. However, Kate is ever hopeful that his condition will improve.
“Every day we wait and see,” she says. “There isn’t a dramatic improvement, but touch wood things haven’t gone backwards either. So we’re adjusting to a new normal.”
The new normal at Christmas for Kate, who married Derek in 2005, means hosting her family and in-laws for the holidays at the couple’s north London home. “It’s a practical solution because it’s quite challenging for Derek to travel,” says Kate. “So it’s easier for people to come to us, which means they have to suffer my cooking!”
The festivities will last several days for Kate, which means lots of time in the kitchen and lashings of turkey, pigs in blankets and cranberry sauce. Luckily, Kate’s parents Marilyn and Gordon will be on hand to help out.
“We’ll just get as much of the family, the Drapers and the Garraways, together – even if it’s not all on one day,” shares Kate. “We’re treating it as a four or five day season this year, so I’m going to be doing a lot of cooking. My mum and dad have already sorted the turkey from a farm where they live.”
Kate’s heroic struggle to balance caring for Derek with her mum duties and work commitments isn’t lost on colleague Ben Shephard, who has presented alongside the mum-of-two for over 20 years. Watching his colleague deftly do battle on all fronts, he’s been impressed by how she’s used her charm and intelligence to become a voice for those in need.
“We all know Kate has had a horrendous few years with her family and is battling really hard on all sorts of fronts,” says Ben. “She’s now become such an important voice for the social care system and carers because it’s something she’s living first-hand.”
Alongside all her other jobs, courageous Kate has this year written a new book titled, The Strength of Love: Embracing An Uncertain Future With Resilience And Optimism, aimed at helping others through difficult times. It left Ben, 48, with a profound respect for his co-anchor.
“If you read her recent book, you get a sense of what she and the family have been going through over the last couple of years but that’s just still not the whole story,” shares Ben. “My admiration, love and respect for what she manages to do is boundless – it’s a joy to come in and see her and catch up with her and work with her.”
The presenting pair host Good Morning Britain on Thursdays and Fridays, and they’re fronting the ITV show’s One Million Minutes campaign, which encourages viewers to pledge their time to fight loneliness.
It’s something close to Kate’s heart and she’s been moved by the positive response from others coming forward to help those in need.
“We started with an ambition of one million minutes and I remember Ben and I going, ‘What if we don’t reach it? It’s going to be terribly disappointing.’ But it just went through the roof,” Kate says, with Ben adding that over 522 million minutes have been pledged by GMB fans since 2016.
“The thing that Kate and I have come to understand is that there is nothing more valuable than time,” Ben says. “And during a cost-of-living crisis, when people are stretched anyway, the fact that people will donate their time – which is infinitely more valuable than money – to help with loneliness with various groups that we support is incredibly compelling and really rewarding.”
From Alzheimer’s Research UK and Grief Encounter to other loneliness charities like The Chatty Cafe Scheme and Re-engage, GMB is asking viewers to give their time – with Kate and Ben judging the award winners for the first time live on air. “We’re asking for time, which is very precious for the person giving it but oh my God, so valuable for the person receiving it,” Kate says.
Meanwhile, Ben is getting a team together to play Sands United, a charity football team supporting bereaved men who have lost babies, although admits that he’s already got an excuse ready for his “rubbish” performance. “Last year it was the dodgy knee,” Kate laughs, while Ben adds, “It’s even more dodgy!”
Loneliness is a cause close to the GMB team’s hearts as it’s sometimes those watching at home who need the company. “For a lot of our viewers, having us there in the morning is an incredible contact and a relationship that we’ve built up with them over decades,” Kate admits.
“One of the things that I always felt quite sad about is on Christmas Eve or the Friday before Christmas, we’d say, ‘Have a lovely Christmas and we’ll see you on the other side.’ For many people, they really missed not having that regularity on Christmas morning because we might be the only people they saw that day.”
Luckily, Good Morning Britain is back with a pre-recorded Christmas Day special this year that Kate hopes will bring a smile and a bit of sparkle to festivities. “It’s lovely that we get to spend Christmas with our viewers,” she adds. “My outfit this year is a little bit cowboy and there’s a lot of sequins. It’s a cowboy Christmas!”
Whatever weather rages outside, Kate and Ben are famous for bringing a bit of sunshine to our mornings, but Ben admits that the early morning wake-ups are still “painful” after two decades of breakfast TV, but neither him nor Kate plan on giving up the gig anytime soon.
“When you’re watching telly in the morning, you’re at your most vulnerable, aren’t you?” Kate says. “People are in their pants, brushing their teeth – there’s something about that connection, which is very different from working on shows at other times of the day. It’s really intimate.”
It’s an observation that isn’t lost on Ben. “People regularly say, ‘I was naked when I saw you this morning, Ben,’ on the train or walking down the street,” Ben laughs. “That intimacy is something we don’t take for granted. It’s an amazing time of day to work.”
As for why Ben and Kate’s working relationship continues to thrive, Kate says it’s all about trust. “Everybody loves working with Ben, I’m just lucky enough that I’ve done it,” she says. “We trust each other. It’s a brother-sister banter relationship, which seems to have worked. He’s like my much younger brother.”
Ben agrees. “Put that in there – significantly younger brother,” he laughs.
After a news-heavy year covering King Charles III ’s coronation, the Israel-Hamas war and the cost of living crisis, the team get to let their hair down at the Good Morning Britain festive lunch, which gets “quite messy”.
Not only are there jokey Christmas presents, there is also lots of wine.
“We do tend to exchange Christmas presents,” Kate smiles. “Ben usually gets me some kind of cleaning-related gift, a vacuum cleaner or some dusters or wet wipes. And my gift to him is to promise to use it. Then at the Christmas lunch, it’s always really good fun because we have all the presenters together.”
However, they insist they’re not the ones that cause the chaos – that’s all down to showbiz supremo Richard Arnold and health expert Dr Hillary Jones.
“Don’t trust Dr Hillary and Richard Arnold together after a couple of baby shams and eggnogs,” Ben warns.
Kate heartily agrees, laughing, “You’ve got the good doctor prescribing large full bodied reds and then Richard Arnold consuming them!”
Good Morning Britain’s 1 Million Minutes campaign runs throughout December, asking viewers to pledge their time to help fight loneliness.
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