Kate Garraway is reportedly considering selling her £4million home after being “wiped out financially” in caring for her husband Derek Draper.
The presenter had been the primary carer of the former lobbyist, who died on January 3 aged 56 after his health declined following his battle with Covid-19 which he caught in March 2020.
The couple, who married in 2005 and have two children, had been living in North London but Garraway is under financial pressure after spending thousands a week on care, the Mail has reported.
“It is so sad for Kate,” a friend said. “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.”
As well as footing the bill for nursing Garraway, 56, has also paid up for her husband to have treatment in Mexico. In addition, the couple closed their psychotherapy company Astra Aspera when it owed £184,000, including £125,000 in taxes.
Garraway said last year it had been “tough” financially as she needed to pay greater overheads but also take time off work.
The friend added: “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.”
Garraway admitted in her memoir last year that she had sometimes “tortured” herself by listening to old voicemails with Derek’s voice before he caught the virus.
She said: “I called Derek’s old mobile number and heard his ‘old voice’ on the answerphone – so powerful, so in control, the soft Lancashire accent so familiar and now so distant from the whispered words we heard from Derek every day.”
