The big interview
Kate Garraway opens up to Nathalie Whittle about caring for her husband Derek, renewing her wedding vows and the simple joys keeping her sane
Over the past two years, many of us have watched and been moved by the heartache that Kate Garraway has endured – and yet the recurring word in her vocabulary is ‘lucky’. It’s not the word you might expect from a woman whose husband continues to suffer from severe long-term effects of Covid after falling ill in March 2020, but for Kate, it sums up exactly how she feels. ‘When you nearly lose everything, you see the things that matter much more clearly,’ she explains. ‘And you become immensely grateful for them.’
Having been released from hospital in April 2021, Derek is now living at home with Kate, 55, and their two children, Darcey, 16, and Billy, 12, in London, while Kate navigates her new reality of being Derek’s primary carer. Now the main breadwinner, she’s juggling caring for Derek with a packed work schedule; as well as her hosting duties on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and Smooth Radio, she’s been sharing her experience in the poignant documentaries Finding Derek and Caring For Derek, and recently launched her own Saturday-morning health and wellbeing talk show, Garraway’s Good Stuff.
When we sit down to chat, she’s honest about the obstacles that still lie ahead for her and her family, and yet she remains hopeful about the future. ‘I want to enjoy things as a foursome again, with our newfound sense of how wonderful life is,’ she says. Here, she shares why there’s always happiness to be found in difficult times…
Like much of the nation, we’re still very much in awe of you. How are things?
If I look back at where we started with Derek, there have been massive improvements. The fact that he’s home with us is amazing, because there were many moments when we didn’t think he’d even survive. His recovery is very slow; he’s had spells back in hospital. Some days, you’ll get a flash of something positive and everybody feels great, then the next, it feels like we’re going backwards. It’s not easy, but I keep reminding myself of the things that couldn’t happen before – being able to sit next to him on the bed and think, ‘It’s wonderful to have you here.’ That helps you spot the little things that make it a good day.
You’ve shared your experience in your documentaries, which struck a chord with so many people – did you find that cathartic?
It was wonderful that it touched so many people and they could relate it to their life challenges. I’m now Derek’s primary carer and, as a family, we’ve had to adjust to a very differ
