Kate: ‘I haven’t got this honour for looking after Derek’
The presenter’s forced to defend her MBE
She’s been one of the most recognisable faces when it comes to speaking out about the damage COVID can bring to a family, and her honesty and openness has been applauded. But last week, Kate Garraway was forced to explain that her MBE was
not for looking after Derek, who spent more than a year in intensive care after contracting Coronavirus in March 2020 and now receives 24/7 care at home.
“There’s been a few comments since, saying, ‘Why has she got this? I look after my loved one,’” said the Good Morning Britain presenter, who last year made the brilliant and highly emotional documentary Finding Derek about her family’s journey to adapt to a new normal. “I haven’t got it for looking after Derek. It’s for broadcasting and charity work. There’s lots of people you think deserve it more, it’s a strange feeling.” She added that, despite some comments, she was “thrilled to bits and incredibly honoured” to receive the title.
The mum-of-two was speaking on GMB, where she also gave an update on Derek’s recovery, explaining that he was doing “alright” but that he was “phenomenally fatigued” – especially after a trip to see a panto.
“We thought it was worth it and I know he did too,” she said. “It was a special thing to be sitting there with the children holding their hands, doing something normal. But it took everything out of him.”
Kate’s honour comes a month after she appeared on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and spoke about the damage COVID has done to Derek. “It’s devastated him from the top of his head to the tip of his toe,” she said. “His digestive system, his liver, his kidneys, his heart, his nervous system. We’re pretty sure that the inflammation did pass through the brain. He still can’t communicate, he still has issues with mobility. Fundamentally, he’s in a terrible state. Look, he’s alive, Piers.”
She’s since started filming Caring For Derek, a follow-up documentary exploring the realities of life after bringing him home from hospital. ■
‘I think lots of people deserve it more’