Ben Shephard praises 'traumatised' Kate Garraway amid husband Derek's Covid battle
Ben Shephard says he admires his GMB colleague Kate Garraway's positivity as her husband Derek Draper remains in hospital after contracting coronavirus at the start of the year
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Good Morning Britain star Ben Shephard has been by his colleague and friend Kate Garraway's side as her husband Derek Draper battled coronavirus for the last seven months.
And the TV personality, 45, has opened up on his admiration for brave Kate, 53, as she and her family navigate the tough time during an appearance on Dave Berry's Dadpod podcast.
Reporter Ben - who is father to two sons Jack and Sam - discussed how he is blown away by the ITV favourite remaining positive since Derek was admitted into the hospital in March, and also revealed that the public's love and support has helped Kate.
Speaking about GMB and working throughout the pandemic, Ben shared “ Sadly, at the moment- there is a lot of frustration, despair, bad news and continuing trauma for all of us and we do worry that the damage that we are doing to young people…
“But, I think the thing that gets you through those trickier days when you're dealing with really tough stories or tough subject matter is coming home and seeing them (his kids) and seeing the optimism and the hope and the need to keep striving for things to improve for them. To find a base whereby they can build on their life in a creative and constructive way that will make a difference, hopefully.
“Occasionally, it's been tough, it's been really tough for family reasons and for personal reasons."
Speaking about Kate, he continued: "Going through Covid, one of my very good colleagues Kate (Garraway) has been very seriously affected in her family and Billy and Darcy are similar ages to Sam and Jack and they're good friends…
“The support and the outpouring of love and generosity of spirit from the British public has been incredible… when you see how she's approached it, when you see the positivity which she's taking it, and when I see the boys and how they're attacking life, and they're not letting it get in the way of what they're going through.
"It makes me very proud and it also, sort of, redoubles your effort to make sure that, you know, we can keep the stories current and tangible, that hopefully, we can present it in a way that can make some change.”
Derek was struck down with Covid-19 in March and was left in a coma - with Kate told on numerous occasions her husband would not make it.
She has updated fans regularly, with him having okay days and bad days in his recovery.
The virus seriously impacted his body and left him with complications he is still battling in hospital and months on and he is still unable to return home.
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