Kate Garraway has credited her stint on I’m A Celebrity with ‘preparing her to get through’ husband Derek Draper’s Covid battle.
The Good Morning Britain host, 53, has often spoken candidly about his ongoing fight and supporting their two children Darcey, 14 and William, 11, since he was diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus in March last year.
In a new interview with Good Housekeeping magazine, Kate said: ‘Forcing myself to do frightening things in the jungle was definitely good for my soul, and it made me believe I could do things I never dreamed possible.
Prepared: Kate Garraway has credited her stint on I’m A Celebrity with ‘preparing her to get through’ husband Derek Draper’s Covid battle (pictured in Australia in 2019)
‘And flippin’ heck! I’ve had to put that knowledge into practice, haven’t I? So actually, maybe the jungle prepared me for getting through this.’
Kate also credited her time on the show in 2019 with helping her make some healthy changes, saying she now drinks lots of hot water, after not being allowed tea in the jungle, which makes ‘a big difference’ to how she feels.
She said: ‘The last thing Darcey, Billy or Derek is me getting sick. I’m not doing as much exercise as I’d like, but… strange as it sounds, I drink a lot of hot water.’
The mother-of-two appeared on I’m A Celebrity in 2019 alongside Myles Stephenson, Caitlyn Jenner and Jacqueline Jossa. She finished the show in fourth place.
Foundation: The Good Morning Britain presenter, 53, said ‘facing her fears’ on the show made her realise she could ‘do things I never dreamed possible’ (pictured with Derek in Australia after coming out of the jungle)
Derek was waiting for Kate as she came out of the jungle in December, mere months before his coronavirus battle started in March 2020.
Elsewhere in her interview, Kate admitted she is struggling as a single parent and sometimes finds herself asking ‘what would Derek do?’ in a situation.
She also detailed how doctors had told her Derek’s infection was the ‘highest they had seen in a patient who had lived’.
Giving an update on Derek’s condition, Kate said the family are in a better place now compared to when her husband was first diagnosed at the start of the pandemic.
It comes days after Kate was told Derek may ‘never come out of a coma’ amid his ongoing battle against coronavirus.
Family: Kate’s husband and their two children – Darcey and William – all supported her during her time in the jungle, with her recently admitting she’s now struggling as a single parent (pictured at Heathrow after returning to the UK from Australia in 2019)
Speaking on GMB on Tuesday, her colleague Piers Morgan, 55, urged viewers to take the virus seriously and made the stark revelation the political advisor Derek remains in perilous condition.
In his desperate message to viewers, Piers said: ‘We know from our colleague Kate Garraway, whose husband is still in a coma from Covid. He may never come out of that coma. She’s been told this, and it’s heartbreaking.’
He had previously revealed that Derek now has holes in his heart and lungs and has lost eight stone during his battle against the deadly virus.
Last week, Kate gave a heartbreaking update on her husband’s ongoing battle with Covid-19, saying ‘his body has been ravaged’ by the virus.
Simpler times: The mother-of-two appeared on I’m A Celebrity in 2019 alongside Myles Stephenson, Caitlyn Jenner and Jacqueline Jossa. She finished the show in fourth place
Healthy habits: Kate also said she made some changes, saying she now drinks lots of hot water, after not being allowed tea in the jungle, which makes ‘a big difference’ to how she feels
Kate spoke to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid about her upcoming book which will detail the last year of her family’s life, admitting she’s been feeling ‘physically low and at the end of my tether’ since Christmas.
The mother-of-two appeared emotional as she also told how a friend’s mother-in-law had died from Covid at the age of just 51 after contracting the virus late last month.
Kate told GMB: ‘It’s been a strange time, I’ve been a bit low since Christmas – physically low, I felt physically at the end of my tether and had to regroup a bit.
‘This week, a friend of mine’s mother-in-law, who is 51 – younger than me – died from Covid. She got it at Christmas, it went down very quickly and she died, I just thought I can’t believe that here we are so far on.’
Sad: Last week, Kate gave a heartbreaking update on her husband’s ongoing battle with Covid-19, saying ‘his body has been ravaged’ by the virus
While Derek no longer has coronavirus, the disease has left him suffering from multiple health conditions including diabetes and holes in his heart and lungs.
‘Derek’s still ravaged from the effects of Covid from way back in March, his recovery is incredibly uncertain,’ Kate explained last Thursday.
Kate added that she’s working with Derek’s medical team to come up with new treatments but she’s finding the scale of the current Covid death rate ‘unbearable’.
Tough year: Kate spoke to her co-stars about her upcoming book which will detail the last year of her family’s life. Released in April, the GMB star’s book is titled The Power Of Hope
‘I’m trying to look for new things and new ways and talking to doctors about what we can do for him meanwhile people are still dying in extraordinary numbers – people that aren’t older and haven’t got underlying conditions, it’s unbearable.’
She added to Piers that he inspired her to write her book The Power Of Hope after he told her to keep a diary since the early days of Derek’s illness: ‘You and Susanna say: “You’re just an inspiration to keep going”, and I thought if I could tell my story and some of the people that have helped me then maybe that will be helpful for people.’
Susanna was full of praise for her friend, telling her: ‘What I think is so inspiring is that we know the hell that you are going through but you still turn up all of the time, you’re always just you.
‘You’ve still got a smile, it’s a joy to interact with you and a lot of people think: ‘How can she maintain that?’
‘And that’s one of the things I’d like to know from you – when you’re in your lowest, darkest place how can you still look to the light?’
‘The book is not a completely written I must admit. I am about a third a way through it,’ Kate said, adding that writing the book, which will be released in April, has helped her emotionally.
She also revealing the poignant words Piers told her in March 2020 when Derek was first hospitalised.
Her co-star had referenced a cartoon comic that now-President Joe Biden told him about after losing his son; an animation of someone asking God: ‘Why me?’, and God replying: ‘Why not?’
Kate explained that she sees that cartoon as inspirational, telling Piers and Susanna: ‘It works to inspire you with confidence, what was so powerful about taking that message on board is you don’t waste energy on the unfairness of the world, you pour it into trying to solve it.
‘I then started saying, when they told me that Derek’s chances of survival were next to nothing and will probably die… But some people were surviving it, and I thought: ‘Well, why not? Why can’t Derek survive?’ and ‘Why can’t Derek now be the one who bucks his damage and recovers?”
‘You can start to flip it to shift away the unfairness and try and take it as a positive, and think why not me be the one who comes through this?
‘I think it just takes away that grinding horror of unfairness in all situations.’
Read the full interview with Kate Garraway in the March issue of Good Housekeeping, on sale January 29.