Kate Garraway was once told her husband Derek Draper "may have died".
Kate Garraway
The 'Good Morning Britain' co-host's significant other has been in hospital for nearly a year, after initially contracting coronavirus in March 2020, and while he is now free of COVID-19, he is still in intensive care dealing with the after-effects.
And Kate has revealed she once thought Derek had passed away, but there was a mix-up with his name.
She was told: "He may have died. Somebody will call you back."
Kate spent 24 hours trying to get through to the hospital, and was eventually told Derek is still alive.
She explained: "Then it turned out that somebody had died who had a similar name to his.
"I was just sitting on the phone, waiting to know if he’d died or not."
Some of the coronavirus after-effects have included Derek's heart stopping more than once, his kidneys have failed, his liver and pancreas have been damaged, and numerous infections have left holes in his lungs.
Kate - who has daughter Darcey, 15, and son Billy, 11, with Derek - hired a nanny for the first time last autumn but she is now on compassionate leave after a coronavirus family bereavement.
The TV presenter has now enlisted the help of Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle's backing singer.
She said: "She’s so lovely and so brilliant. And you know, when I get home tonight they will have been mixing a rap. A really inappropriate rap."
Kate took a break from 'GMB' last year before later returning to work, and while she worries some viewers may resent her talking about her ill husband on air, she admitted it would be "weird not to" use her public platform to speak out, because others will be going through similar experiences.
Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine, she added: "I’m sure there’s plenty of people who think, ‘Why is she going on about it all the time? My husband’s sick too.
"But inevitably, because of the job I happen to do, I’ve talked about the situation on air because it would be weird not to.
"I know this sounds a little bit holier-than-thou, but I’m also very conscious that I have a voice that other people don’t.
"So it’s really important to say stuff that I’ve experienced because I will not be alone in those experiences."
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