Kate Garraway: Still Waking Up Panicked Over Late Husband Derek Draper’s Care

Kate Garraway has revealed that she still wakes up in the the night panicking that she hasn’t given her late husband Derek Draper his medicine.

The TV presenter and broadcaster, 58, reflected on his end of life care in a candid new interview on Wednesday. 

Derek died at the age of 56 in January 2024 following a four-year battle with long Covid. 

Speaking in The Sun, she told of how those tough years remain in her thoughts.

She explained: ‘I still wake up in the middle of the night panicking that I haven’t given him his medicine, or that I have forgotten to move him every hour to prevent the painful contractions in his limbs.

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‘The next second I realise he no longer needs that care. There is a moment of relief — that I did not let him down — before a tsunami of sadness hits.

‘Caring takes over your whole life. You don’t begrudge it, but you suffer because of it.’

In 2023, Kate was hospitalised with ‘excruciating’ chest pains after suffering extreme stress while husband Derek was in recovery.

She needed medical assistance of her own after being woken by the 2am alarm she sets each night for Good Morning Britain – and discovering she couldn’t move to turn it off.    

In her book, The Strength Of Love, the presenter described how she then felt a ‘searing pain’ in her chest and was immediately taken to the nearest A&E for tests.

Kate has been busy juggling a hectic work schedule, as the true extent of her debts are revealed.

She has openly discussed how she has been left with debts between £500,000 and £800,000 after caring for her late husband Derek.

As well as tackling debts related to the £16,000 a month costs for his care, a new liquidator’s report has revealed the large tax costs that are yet to be paid by Derek’s now-defunct psychotherapeutic company Astra Aspera.

The company, which was jointly controlled by Kate, went bust owing hundreds of thousands of pounds to creditors, including a large bill to HMRC.

Kate has been busy promoting her various work projects as her debts loom over her but it’s not the first time the broadcaster has had to deal with financial woes. 

In 2012, two other firms jointly controlled by Derek and Kate went bust.

Fulfill Media Ltd had debts totalling £922,807, which included £88,486 owed to HMRC, £90,882 to trade creditors, and £462,808 in ‘third party loans’.

At the same time, Countrymouse Media Ltd, was liquidated owing £189,121, which included £98,944 to the taxman and £48,000 on an overdrawn directors loan account. Derek and Kate were both personally owed £24,000 each by the business.

In January 2024, it was reported that Kate may have to sell the home to repay her current debts with one source saying: ‘It has cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to look after Derek and do everything she could to get him better but it’s left her struggling.’

But hard-working Kate has been on a self-promotion blitz amid her latest financial woes.

Alongside her regular GMB work, the star plugged her Smooth Radio show this week, revealing she was ‘chuffed’ that the lunchtime show now reached 2.8million listeners.

She has also been teasing her signing in perhaps one of the most anticipated TV shows of year – Celebrity Traitors.

Along with the likes of Stephen Fry, Alan Carr and Jonathan Ross Kate headed to Scotland a few weeks ago to film the spin off of the smash hit BBC series.

Meanwhile, in February she was announced as the host of a new Dubai-set podcast and YouTube series – DXB Unheard.

Each of the eight episodes, which are released weekly, feature interviews with Emiratis and Dubai residents ‘who have left an indelible mark on the city.’

She filmed the series last year and has admitted that she found it ‘interesting’ to learn about how people lived their lives at a time when she was contemplating her future plans.

Kate previously revealed that Derek’s £16,000-a-month care costs eclipsed her GMB salary, admitting in a 2023 interview that she couldn’t even afford to have the heating on in October.

Speaking before her husband’s death, Kate said: ‘Derek’s care costs more than my salary from ITV and that is before you pay for a mortgage, before you pay any household bills, before you pay for anything for the kids, so we are at a crunch point.

‘I am in debt. I can’t earn enough money to cover my debt because I am managing Derek’s care and I can’t even use the money I do have to support Derek’s recovery, because it’s going on the basics all the time.’

In May last year, Kate candidly revealed she’s resorted to withdrawing money from her pension pot to pay the huge bills during a discussion about the NHS and private care on GMB.

Sharing the results of a survey that revealed one in five Brits are getting themselves into debt while funding private medical care, she admitted: ‘I am doing something similar myself. 

‘I have had to withdraw the bit you can tax free from my pension to pay for belated bills for my husband, who has now passed away.

‘People are having to do things – it wasn’t a huge pension in the first place – which aren’t what they saved for.’

Addressing the latest HMRC filing, Kate’s spokesperson told MailOnline on Wednesday that the ‘shocked’ TV star ‘doesn’t recognise these figures’ and is in contact with HMRC to make sure she ‘honours what is required’.

Their statement read: ‘Kate has met all that the liquidators of Derek’s company have asked for and more over the past four years.

‘She doesn’t recognise these figures and is shocked that it’s being presented in this way by them.

‘Caring for Derek and supporting her family when Derek could no longer run his own businesses has taken a huge financial toll on her but she’s determined to put things right.

‘She is in constant contact with HMRC to make sure she honours what’s required from Derek’s now defunct company.’