Kate Garraway has found "comfort" in knowing that her late husband Derek Draper is no longer in pain.

Kate Garraway has found comfort in knowing that Derek is no longer in pain

Kate Garraway has found comfort in knowing that Derek is no longer in pain

The 56-year-old journalist lost her husband Derek - with whom she has Darcy, 17, and 14-year-old Billy - in January when he died at the age of 56 following a four-year battle with COVID and in her first TV interview since the loss thanked viewers for their support and opened up about the "challenges" she and her children faced in his last few months.

Speaking on Monday's (05.02.24) edition of ITV's 'Good Morning Britain' from her home, she said: "Having those messages, it makes me weep because I feel so grateful and I'm also aware that there are people this mornign that don't have that sense of love. I know there will be people going to funerals today.

"I'm not sure I did it very well, I relied on everybody else like we all do. I have a massive debt to so many people and not least Derek. His spirit to keep going...never once did he say 'I don't want to try', The children have also been extraordinary throughout. And I think we have rituals like funerals because there is this extraordinary vacuum.

"It feels like five years and also two minutes since I was in the studio.

"I was excited because Derek had never been in a more positive place than he was just before the cardiac arrest that took him from us.

"He had an MRI scan, it was the furthest from the spectre of death that we had ever been.

"I remember thinking 'We must do this, we've got all these things...' and then it was one of those stop-the-clock moments when you want the world to stop. The vacuum at that point, having been entirely focused for four years, it swamps you.

"I think...thinking 'Right, we now have what we've been told is 24 hours', which turned out to be a month...that was a challenge.

"It was a challenge to make sure he knew that he wasn't letting us down because he couldn't get through this last one. The children had time with him on their own as well as all of us together and Darcy said 'Dad, if you can't do this, we'll be okay. Release yourself if you need to go, don't worry about us.'"

"It's a comfort to think he's free from pain, and my goodness, he deserves to be. But for Derek, what the medical profession, the carers, the therapists...there was a porter at the funeral who wanted to be there for porters everywhere. Receptionists...what they gave to our family for those extra four years is extraordinary and Derek wouldn't have traded one day of it and neither would we."

Kate is due to return to her regular role hosting 'Good Morning Britain' later this week after almost two months off and admitted that she wants to return to work because life has to "go on" in honour of her husband.

She added: "Thank you to them, thank you for everybody. A new life starts now...I don't quite know how it's gonna be but grief isn't containable in a day or a month or a year.

"People are asking why I'm going back to work but everybody has to.

"Life has to start any minute now. We have to pick ourselves up and go on because that's what Derek did."

The former GMTV presenter - who has received letters of condolence from David and Victoria Beckham, as well as King Charles and Catherine Princess of Wales - concluded her interview by noting what an "honour" it had been to be able to care for her husband and even though she has some "regrets" over the way she handled things but admitted that her life will have been "built forever" around the tragedy.

"It's an incredible thing to be in that line of defence against the world and what happens to us all in life. To be able to be there for somebody is the ultimate honour and privilege really, isn't it? I know I didn't get it all right. I have lots of regrets of things I should have done more and spent less time fretting about, but it is a huge honour and what you do will be something that builds your life forever."

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