Kate Garraway reveals hobby helping her through husband Derek Draper’s hospitalisation

Kate Garraway
(Image credit: SOPA Images)

Kate Garraway has revealed the hobby helping her through her husband Derek Draper’s hospitalisation.

ITV’s Kate Garraway has spoken out about the home hobby that’s been helping her through her husband Derek Draper’s extended hospitalisation.

The Good Morning Britain presenter’s husband was admitted to hospital earlier this year back in March and was put into an induced coma after testing positive for COVID-19.

Although he woke from his coma some months ago, Derek is still unable to function normally, with the couple’s two children 14-year-old Darcey and 11-year-old Billy still unable to see their father.

Speaking to BBC Two’s Gardeners’ World, Kate revealed that the family have taken up gardening to help them through the difficult time.

A photo posted by on

"It was rather sad because the radishes came, they're one of Derek's favourite vegetables, and we ate them and he still wasn't better,” said Kate.

"So I then thought, we've got to go more long-term, planting things that were going to take longer to bear fruit,” she explained, revealing that the hobby has given the family a sense of hope.

"And I'd say, 'Dad will be better by then'... And of course now that it's been so long, we've got a huge basket of bulbs, so that when dad comes home, the place will be full of colour."

"When you're living day-to-day on a knife edge, doing something that gives you a future just helps with a sense of progress, where there is actually none from the direct situation," continued Kate, who recently hit out at President Donald Trump following his coronavirus-prompted hospital stint.

A photo posted by on

"It's been the most important space for us. It's been a place to find joy, hope, go a bit crazy and feel a bit unleashed in a stifling physical and emotional time that we've all lived through.

"It just gives you that sense of positive moving forward. You can't think short-term in a garden, you have to plan,” said Kate, opening up about it has helped the family to think positively in the face of their difficult year. "You have to have hope. You have to invest in a future.

"You don't plant something unless you believe it's going to come up, so by planting something and believing Derek will see it when it comes up, that gives us a sense of future."

Aleesha Badkar

Aleesha is a digital shopping writer at woman&home—so whether you're looking for beauty, fashion, health or home buys, she knows what the best buys are at any moment. She earned an MA in Magazine Journalism from City, University of London in 2017 and has since worked with a number of brands including Women's Health, Stylist and Goodto. A year on the w&h news team gained her invaluable insight into where to get the best lifestyle releases first—as well as an AOP awards nomination.