Kate Garraway vows not to cry as GMB guest brings up Derek Draper’s death
Carry On star and singer Anita Harris has also lost her husband
Watch: Kate Garraway fights back tears as she is comforted by TV guest
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Kate Garraway said she was “not going to cry” as singer Anita Harris expressed her condolences over the loss of the presenter's husband.
The Good Morning Britain star’s husband Derek Draper died in January after his lengthy battle with COVID. He had fought ill health since contracting the coronavirus in March 2020 and spent more than a year in hospital, needing round-the-clock care when he got home.
Carry On star Harris lost her own husband Mike Margolis in May 2023, with the record producer and manager passing away from Alzheimer's just a few days after the couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. She commiserated with Garraway as she appeared on the ITV show on Thursday (June 13).
What, how and why?
Smiling at the TV star and reaching out to hold her hand, Harris said: “I can’t tell you how precious this moment is to see you, after seeing you go through everything.”
Turning to Garraway’s co-host Ed Balls, she went on: “Darling Ed, you're wonderful for all the viewers. But for me, I was a bit parallel with you (Garraway) darling, but I am not here to, we have got to bring joy.”
Garraway looked touched, but vowed not to get tearful. "We are not going to cry, we are not going to cry, are we?” she said. “We're not going to cry because we want hope."
Harris also said she hoped things were going OK for the couple’s two children, daughter Darcey, 18, and son Billy, 14.
Garraway recently shared how before he died, Draper felt as if he had let them down.
“Big physical and in Derek’s case, brain changes, changes the dynamic," she explained on ITV’s This Morning. "And I certainly was very conscious for him, he felt disempowered in so many ways.”
Garraway said Draper would say he felt that he had let down their children but that to them he was “a hero”. “He didn’t let them down, of course he didn’t,” she said. “But he felt like he did.”
Derek Draper died in January aged 56
Garraway announced in January that former political adviser Draper had passed away at the age of 56. Sharing a picture of him on Instagram, she wrote: “As some of you may know he has been critically ill following a cardiac arrest in early December which, because of the damage inflicted by Covid in March 2020, led to further complications.”
The star said Draper was surrounded by his family and that she was “by his side holding his hand throughout the last long hours and when he passed”.
“Rest gently and peacefully now Derek, my love,” she wrote. “I was so lucky to have you in my life.”
