Kate Garraway has said it was a ‘stop the clock’ moment when she heard her husband Derek Draper would die.
The TV star made an emotional appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain just three days after laying her husband to rest at a funeral on Friday, speaking of her “outpouring of love for everyone who has supported me”.
Appearing from her home with bouquets of flowers and Lego in the background, she joked: “Let’s just take the mess into our own hands and get on with it, Lego and chaos all.”
She expressed her gratitude for a book of condolence of messages from viewers that she had received, as well as three baskets of cards from viewers and ITV crew.
She said: “It’s just amazing. It feels like my emotions are at 110%. The incredible love we all have as a GMB family, it’s just amazing. We are very lucky.
“The love we have together as a family, people watching at home, makes us so connected.
“And we have always been connected in all our joys, and all our pleasures and life’s challenges, which poor Derek has had to face head-on, and so has our family.
“But when I get these messages, I cry because I feel so grateful.
‘I am also aware that there are people this morning who do not have that feeling of love. And I just want to share it with you because I know there will be people going to funerals today, who will hear terrible diagnoses today, who will face the worst of it today.
“And I really think about them because I know how they feel, and I’m lucky to have all of you.”
Draper’s funeral was attended by former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, musician Sir Elton John and Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer, among others.
The service was held on Friday at the Church of St Mary The Virgin in Primrose Hill, north-west London.
Former political lobbyist and psychologist Draper married the GMB presenter in the same church in September 2005.
Draper became seriously ill during the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 and spent 13 months in hospital before being discharged.
He died on January 3 at the age of 56 after prolonged symptoms of the coronavirus.
When asked how she managed to care for her husband for four years, she replied: “I’m not sure I did a very good job. I guess I relied on everyone, as we all do.
“I think I owe a huge debt to so many people, not least to Derek, because his spirit and struggle to keep going never once said, ‘I don’t want to try.’ I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do that.’
“Neither do the children. The kids have been extraordinary throughout.”
Speaking about how it felt when she was told Draper would not survive a serious decline in his health, she said: “It was one of those ‘stop the clock’ moments, where you want the world to stop.
“And I think the vacuum you feel at that moment, after four years of being completely focused on: what do I do now? What can I do for Derek, what happens to the children? All that overwhelms you.
“Thinking, okay, we got what we were told was 24 hours, and it turned out to be over a month of him fighting and fighting even though the prognosis was, this is one he won’t make it.
“And that’s a challenge because for the kids, when they heard the doctors say he’s not going to survive this, they’ve heard it so many times before.
“We knew Derek could still hear even though he couldn’t open his eyes, so it was a challenge to make sure he knew he wasn’t letting us down because he couldn’t get through this last thing.”
She said both children spent time alone with their father, adding: “Darcey said, ‘If you can’t do this, you’ll be fine,’ and I thought that was extremely brave.”
The couple’s daughter, Darcey, served as a pallbearer at the service, and Garraway said, “She insisted on doing it and I thought it was a beautiful thing.”
Of Darcey and son Billy, she added: “Their grieving will continue, we are in the foothills, we know there is still a long way to go.”
However, she said she is looking to the future, adding: “A new life begins now. I don’t really know how it’s going to be. But grief cannot be mastered in a day, a month or a year.
“I think some people are saying, why are you going back to work? Well, everyone has to, right? Life must begin.”
She paid tribute to carers, saying: “We have so much brilliance in our medical profession and so much skill, but we need a different system of support, care and also everything that actually happens when you’re out of care. moment of life and death.
“It has to change and hopefully it will change.
“But I think people who are watching and are in a caring position will know two things: how incredibly difficult it is, but what an honor, and how much I wish I was caring today.
“Because it’s incredible to be that line of defense against the world.”
Garraway returns to the station on Thursday’s ITV show and joked: “I’m going to look out for a hairdryer.
‘I’m going to find false eyelashes. I’m really looking forward to applying fake tan.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be a little more respectable by Thursday.” I’m going to do a lot of homework between now and then because I feel like I’ve been in a very small bubble.
“So I’m really looking forward to getting out into the world and sharing with everyone what’s going on and reconnecting with everyone.
“So thank you for having me back, and just be patient a little longer. I might be a little rusty… There’s a new king, right? Have I caught up on that?”
She added that she has received “extraordinary” messages of condolence from unexpected places.
Garraway said: “I had the most beautiful letter from David and Victoria Beckham – handwritten, very good handwriting… that was Darcey’s observation.
‘And from the royal family – Catherine and William sent a lovely letter, and I know Catherine herself has been in hospital.
‘Even the king, because there is someone who knows about sadness, that anticipatory sadness where you know that something is about to happen and how different it is when it does happen.’