Kate Garraway planning first family holiday since husband Derek’s death

Kate Garraway has revealed that she’s planning her first family holiday since the death of her husband Derek Draper.

The political lobbyist died in January at the age of 56 after a highly publicized battle with long Covid – leaving behind wife Kate, 56, and their daughters Darcey, 18, and Billy, 14.

Admitting that the milestone will inevitably be “challenging,” Kate told MailOnline This weekend she is determined to do “something lovely” after a difficult four years for the family.

“We will get a family holiday,” Garraway said. “But it’s going to be a bit challenging because it’s a different kind of family set up that we have now.”

The presenter returned to her work on ITV morning show Good Morning Britain in February, taking the opportunity to thank viewers for their well wishes.

Draper suffered complications after contracting Covid at the very start of the pandemic in March 2020, and his condition became so serious that he was at one point treated in hospital for over a year.

While he did manage to return home to his family, he remained seriously unwell and was taken to hospital again in December 2023.

Following a heart attack, he sadly passed away on January 3 after requiring nearly round-the-clock care for almost four years, due to the extensive damage his organs had sustained from the virus.

Garraway was open about her husband’s situation from the get-go and revealed the perilous financial situation the family had been left in thanks to the cost of his care.

In a documentary filmed for ITV, Derek’s Story, she revealed that it cost £16,000 a month for Derek’s care – a sum so great that the family was left in debt.

“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,” the presenter, who wanted to highlight problems within the UK’s care system, he said.

“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.”

Garraway explained that even though her husband’s situation was so serious, the family were denied government support when it came to his care.

She also acknowledged the privilege of her position as a TV presenter.

“I’m not going to pretend that I am poorly paid, I have an incredible job that I love, which is well-paid, but it’s not enough,” she said.

“We are entirely reliant on extraordinary carers but the system in which they work is unbelievably complicated, and underfunded, and trying to meet an impossible need.”