Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway lost her husband Derek Draper in 2024
Kate Garraway lost her husband Derek Draper in 2024(Image: PA)
Kate Garraway had been married to late husband Derek Draper for 18 years when he died in 2024.
The Good Morning Britain presenter was left heartbroken when the former political advisor died at the age of 56, weeks after suffering a cardiac arrest. Derek had spent more than a year in hospital after falling ill with the coronavirus in 2020. He suffered several health setbacks and had needed round the clock care after he returned home to Kate and their two children Darcey and Billy.
“Rest gently and peacefully now Derek, my love, I was so lucky to have you in my life,” Kate said in a moving tribute after announcing that he had died.
The star has since been open about what life is like for the family as they try and deal with their loss, sharing touching milestones and opening up about their grief journey.
Kate has occasionally addressed whether she might dip her toe in the dating pool again. However, two years on, she is still thought to be single, although there have been persistent rumours about her meeting someone.
What has Kate Garraway said about finding love again?
In February 2025, Kate opened up about life after Derek in a chat with Hello! magazine.
While she didn’t specifically talk about relationships, the TV presenter did say that she knew her late husband would want her to live her life.
“Derek would want me to be grabbing life, because you learn how fast, and how easily, it can be snatched away,” she said. “I know he’d be saying, ‘You’ve got to get out and live, because I can’t’.”
A few months later, the star told The Sun that all the speculation about her love life had “made me think about it”.
“And honestly, I don’t feel as if I can,” she said. “It’s a weird one, because I wouldn’t like to think I’d spend the rest of my life without love, but also it feels preposterous at the moment to think of being with anyone else.”
However, Kate said she knew she was “going to have to think about the future at some point”.
The Celebrity Traitors star said expanding her social circle was on the agenda, so that she could try to have a social life that “isn’t based on being a mummy”. “There’s no point in worrying about it – it will happen organically when I am ready,” she said.
Kate, who took part in the first celebrity series of The Traitors, has also admitted that living the rest of her life without finding love again would be “sad”.
Opening up to Jamie Laing on his Great Company podcast, she said: “Well I wouldn’t like to think that I’d never had romantic love in my life again. I think that would be rather a sad way to go through life wouldn’t it?
“But, no, I’m not there yet. I don’t know if anybody would want me.”
She quipped: “Talk to your mates, find out if any of their dads are single.”
Kate Garraway is on the Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer, which airs at 7pm on Channel 4 on Sunday May 3.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.