It's been a bittersweet few days for Kate Garraway as she prepares to mark her first wedding anniversary without her late husband Derek Draper on Tuesday.
What would have been their 19th wedding anniversary comes days after Kate was nominated for Best Authored Documentary again, for Kate Garraway: Derek's Story, which followed the final year of her husband's life, before he died in January aged 56, after a lengthy battle with the long-term effects of Covid.
© James Gourley/ITV/ShutterstockThe Good Morning Britain presenter's documentary followed on from two other programmes about his battle with Covid and her struggles navigating the care system, which both picked up NTA gongs in the category in 2021 and 2022.
Despite her nomination, Kate faced some backlash over the sensitive nature of the documentary – something, which has prompted her to stay quiet. Speaking on GMB last week, she explained: "I haven't posted about being nominated yet because I got so much backlash from doing it, for people saying 'stop going on about it' But actually, I realise I'm letting people down."
She added: "One of the biggest frustrations was that he felt like a total failure, he felt like an incredible burden on the carers, on the system, on us and it didn't matter what we said, he felt that burden, and he wanted to be a contributor.
© Shutterstock"It's wonderful to have the chance to honour him and also honour the millions. I'm sad because I don't have the chance to care anymore but I felt it would be wrong for me to sort of walk away from the caring campaign that I feel I have a responsibility for."
The presenter, who shares two children with her late husband, later took to social media to share a clip from the documentary. Watch the clip below:
Thanking fans for their support, Kate wrote: "I have been inundated with the most incredible & heartbreaking messages from thousands of vulnerable people in need and also carers , professional & those unpaid - urging me to keep going.
"Please take a moment to watch this clip from our @itv @officialntas nominated documentary and vote ( link in bio). For those in need, & of course one day that will be all of us, it means so much. I hope you all have a #safe & #peaceful #sunday. And in advance, thank you, it means so much."
Fans flooded her post with comments, which one reading: "You are an inspiration to us unpaid carers you are working so hard to try and make it fair for us. Documentaries about carers are so needed as no one understands how hard it is until you are in the situation."
Another stated: "So true Kate it's so hard to get help when helping loved ones. Thanks to you hopefully people that need to make sure this happens will listen and do something."
© ITVThe TV star, 57, met Derek in the autumn of 2004 after being introduced by their mutual friend Gloria De Piero, who used to work with Kate as the political editor of GMTV. They then tied the knot in London on 10 September 2005.
In 2020, the couple had planned to renew their wedding vows for their 15th wedding anniversary but they were forced to spend it apart as Derek was unable to receive hospital visitors on that particular day.
© InstagramAt the time, Kate said on GMB: "We had him on FaceTime and we raised a glass and said 'Happy Anniversary'."
She continued: "I'm maybe going to go through all the cards he's written to me on our anniversary. He was a prolific card writer for birthdays and things he would always remember. And when I say 'was', it's not like he's not still here - he's still here and hopefully he'll do it again. When you look back at the stack [of cards] it makes you think."
