Kate Garraway may sell £4million home after spending thousands on Derek's care
Kate Garraway is facing new anguish as she may have to sell the £4million home she cared for her husband Derek Draper in, and still lives with their children, after saying things were 'tough financially.'
Friends of the Good Morning Britain presenter says she is considering putting her north London home on the market after being 'wiped out' with the cost of caring for Derek following his covid diagnosis.
After a gruelling three year battle with the effects of the virus, Derek was in and out of hospital for three years and received round the clock care. Kate also funded two trips to Mexico where her husband underwent pioneering treatment. The presenter also adapted their home so he was able to return home from hospital. Former political lobbyist Derek died earlier this month at the age of 56 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
The couple's psychotherapy company Astra Aspera shut with £184,000 debts in 2022 landing Kate with a £716,000 tax bill.
A friend said: "It is so sad for Kate. Not only has she had to watch her beloved husband suffer for almost four years but her financial worries have never been far away from her thoughts.
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Kate Garraway had her house adapted to care for Derek Draper, who became seriously ill after contracting Covid in 2020 (ITV)"It has cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to look after Derek and do everything she could to get him better but it's left her struggling," they shared in the Mail on Sunday. "The house is about all she has left financially and she is now facing up to the fact it might have to be sold. It's where she and Derek were so happy and also where her two children grew up – but bills are bills and they have to be paid. It's dreadful for Kate."
Mirror Online has contacted representatives of Kate for comment.
Kate has been open about the financial cost of caring for long-term ill. "As anyone with a loved one who is seriously ill knows, the costs go through the roof in so many ways. You have to make changes to your home and it affects your ability to work.
"I had to take long periods off when Derek was first sick and it affects the overall income for the family, as he can no longer work".
In her ITV documentary Finding Derek, Kate revealed the major alterations she'd undergone to her home so that Derek could finally leave hospital after 13 months away from his family.
Kate showed the cameras she'd installed a wheelchair lift, alarm system, wet room and ground floor bedroom. The lift meant her home was now wheelchair accessible, for Derek – who she married in 2005 – to use during his recovery. Kate also instructed builders to add floor to ceiling windows facing her garden so that her husband could watch their children play outside.
Kate Garraway paid for major alterations to her home so that Derek could receive round the clock care there after over a year in hospital (ITV)"At the moment what we’re doing, we’ve got an occupational therapist that deals with the lay out of the home, looking at putting in a wet room – basically, ground floor living," Kate explained at the time. "He’ll either be on a stretcher or a wheelchair. And also they’re trying to figure out how to put a lift in the garden.’
Kate's GMB co-host Ben Shephard told viewers that she told him 'It's like having a ward at home now because he needs so much equipment.'
Kate who had two children with Derek, Darcey, 17, and their youngest, Billy, 11, announced the death of her husband of 19 years earlier this month in an emotional Instagram post: The doting mum-of-two solemnly wrote: “I’m sad to have to tell you all that my darling husband Derek has passed away. As some of you may know he has been critically ill following a cardiac arrest in early December which, because of the damage inflicted by Covid in March 2020, led to further complications.
"Derek was surrounded by his family in his final days and I was by his side holdin his hand throughout the last long hours and when he passed. I have so much more to say, and of course I will do so in due course, but for now I just want to thank all the medical teams who fought so hard to save him and to make his final moments as comfortable and dignified as possible. Sending so much love and thanks to all of you who have so generously given our family so much support. Rest gently and peacefully now Derek, my love, I was so lucky to have you in my life."
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