A GRIEVING Kate Garraway could be forced to sell her £4million London home after paying for her husband’s expensive medical bills.
The devastated presenter, 56, was left nursing her partner Derek Draper as he battled long Covid.
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Kate’s friends told the Mail on Sunday the beloved TV host is now “facing up to the fact” that her North London house might need to go on the market to cope with the costs.
They say she spent thousands of pounds as she bravely cared for her husband before he died earlier this month after a cardiac arrest, at 56-years-old.
Kate took her husband across the world to Mexico so the former psychologist could undergo pioneering treatment and she also had to adapt the family home to make it more accessible for Derek.
The Good Morning Britain presenter was also forced to take time off work so she could give Derek the care he needed.
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One 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.
“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.
“The house is about all she has left financially and she is now facing up to the fact it might have to be sold. Bills are bills and they have to be paid. It’s dreadful for Kate.”
The £4million home has been a constant in Kate’s life for years and was the place where she and Derek watched their two children grow up.
Kate admitted last year that she’s struggled to keep up with all her payments both personally and for Derek.
She said: ‘It’s been tough financially. 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.”
Kate recalled fondly how Derek, a popular character as well as a celebrated author and political activist, would “create chaos just for the fun of it”.
He began his political career in 1990 working for Labour MP Nick Brown.
He then worked as a researcher for Peter Mandelson and in 1996 became the director of lobbying firm GPC Market Access, where he helped set up the New Labour organisation Progress.
Derek, who went on to be an accomplished author, met Kate in 2004 at a party.
They wed in 2005, had Darcey in 2006 and Billy in 2009.
Derek had remained largely in the background of her career until Kate’s stint on I’m A Celeb in 2019, where he appeared on ITV breakfast telly with their children to speak about how proud he was of his wife.
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