Kate Garraway said it was a "stop the clock" moment when she learned her husband Derek Draper was going to die - but she's also grateful for all the messages of condolence she's received.
The TV star made an emotional appearance on ITV's Good Morning Britain just three days after laying her husband to rest at a funeral on Friday, and spoke of her "outpouring of love for everyone that has supported me".
Appearing from her home with bouquets of flowers and Lego in the background, she joked: "Let’s just own the mess and go with it, Lego and chaos all."
She expressed her gratitude for a book of condolence with messages from viewers she had received, as well as three baskets of cards from viewers and ITV crew.
She said: "It’s just amazing. It feels like my emotions are at 110%. The unbelievable love that we all have as a GMB family, it’s just wonderful. We are very lucky.
"The love that we have as a family all together, which is people watching at home, we’re so connected.
"And we’ve always been connected in all our joys, and all our fun and the challenges of life, of which poor Derek has faced head-on, and our family has done as well.
"But having those messages, it makes me weep, because I feel so grateful.
"I’m also aware that there are people this morning that don’t have that sense of love. And I just want to share with you because I know there’ll be people going to funerals today, who will be hearing terrible diagnoses today, who will be facing the worst today.
"And I’m thinking of them, really, because I know how they feel, and I’m lucky that I’ve got all of you."
Draper’s funeral was attended by figures including former prime minister Tony Blair, musician Elton John and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.
The service was held on Friday at the Church of St Mary The Virgin in Primrose Hill, north-west London.
Former political lobbyist-turned-psychologist Draper married the GMB presenter at the same church in September 2005.
Draper fell seriously ill during the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 and spent 13 months in hospital before he was discharged.
He died on January 3 aged 56 after suffering long-lasting symptoms from coronavirus.
Asked how she managed to keep it together while caring for her husband for four years, she said: "I’m not sure I did it very well. I think I relied on everybody else, like we all do.
"I think I’ve got a massive debt to so many people and not least to Derek, actually, because his spirit and fight to keep going, never once did he say: 'I don’t want to try. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do that.’
"Nor have the children. The children have been extraordinary throughout."
Addressing how it felt when she was told Draper would not survive a serious downturn in his health, she said: "It was one of those ‘stop the clock’ moments, where you want the world to stop.
"And I think the vacuum you feel at that point, having been entirely focused for four years on: what do I need to do next? What can I do for Derek, what’s happening with the children? All of that it swamps you.
"Thinking: right, we have what we were told was 24 hours, and turned out to be more than a month of him fighting on and fighting on even though the prognosis was, this is one he won’t make through.
"And that’s a challenge, because for the children, when they heard the doctors say he won’t survive this, they’ve heard that so many times.
"We knew Derek could still hear even though he couldn’t open his eyes, so 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."
Source: Press Association
