Kate Garraway has opened up about the devastating late-night thoughts she has about her late husband Derek Draper more than a year on from his death.
Draper, a political lobbyist, died aged 56 in January 2024 after a cardiac arrest following a four-year battle with long Covid.
Good Morning Britain host Garraway, 58, helped care for her partner in his final years and reflected on the mental toll it had on her.
“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,” she told The Sun.
“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.”
Garraway, who has two children with Draper, added: “Caring takes over your whole life. You don’t begrudge it, but you suffer because of it.”
The presenter was hospitalised in 2023 with “excruciating” chest pains after battling extreme stress while Draper was in recovery.
She has also been left with huge amounts of debt - between £500,000 and £800,000 - from caring for her husband of 18 years.
In January, she said she was facing “excessive, unpayable debt” as she clashed with Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
The broadcaster - who is tipped to be joining Celebrity Traitors - revealed the £16,000 monthly cost of her late husband's care was more than her salary from ITV and had resulted in her racking up huge debts.
“At the time of his death, there were two appeals that hadn't been heard for funding,” she told Streeting on GMB.
“It kept on getting pushed back and pushed back. In the meantime, and I'm lucky I've got an incredible job which is well-paid, I was having to fund the situation.
“Now I've got excessive, unpayable debt because of it, and if I'm in that position, what are other people going to be? People can't afford four more years of this?"
Last month, a liquidator’s report highlighted the significant tax liabilities still outstanding from Derek’s defunct psychotherapeutic company, Astra Aspera.
The company, which was jointly controlled by Garraway, went into liquidation with substantial debts, including a considerable sum owed to HMRC.
The latest claim from HMRC now stands at £288,054, a sharp reduction from the £716,822 initially submitted in 2023. So far, Garraway has reportedly repaid £21,000 towards the debt.
Her spokesperson told The Standard she was “shocked” by the figures presented and does not recognise them.
