Kate Garraway opens up about ‘tough’ first Christmas since death of husband Derek Draper
TV presenter said it was difficult to be reminded of happier Christmas memories with her husband
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Your support makes all the difference.Kate Garraway has opened up about spending her first Christmas without husband Derek Draper after his death.
The psychotherapist and former lobbyist for the Labour party died in January at the age of 56.
Draper, who married Good Morning Britain presenter Garraway in 2005, had suffered major health complications after contracting Covid in 2020.
Garraway, 57, looked emotional as she admitted that Christmas would be a “tough one” this year for her and her two children, 18-year-old Darcey and 15-year-old Billy.
Her co-presenter Ranvir Singh asked her how she had been feeling in the run up to Christmas during today’s edition of the early morning news programme (24 December).
“It’s our first Christmas without him,” Garraway said, before revealing that she had been talking to her fellow ITV star about his experience of grieving his mother during the Christmas holidays.
“I think this one will be particularly hard,” she added. “We’re lucky that I’ve got family around me, I’m seeing my brother and it’s distracting.
“But I think you do feel grief [at Christmas] because that’s the point where you have the memories of previous years. We were lucky enough to still have him over the last four or five years even though there were times when he was very ill.”
She confessed that the festive season had been difficult so far, telling viewers: “I think [for] anybody experiencing grief, it does hit you. When you feel something which is full of tradition, where you have memories, it comes back, so I’m thinking about everybody else who’s feeling it really, at this time.”
Garraway added that she had not made plans for New Year, but revealed that she and her family will most likely make a visit to Draper’s grave.
“I’m not planning anything for New Year,” she said. “I think it will just be a little moment of thought. I think we’ll all probably go to the grave and have a little bit of time.”
“I know there will be many viewers feeling the same and going through the same thing, even if it isn’t recent,” she continued. “It can be five, 10, 15, 20 years and you feel it, don’t you?”
In September, Garraway received the award for best authored documentary at the 2024 National Television Awards for her emotional ITV documentary Derek’s Story, which charted the final year of her husband’s life.
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