Kate Garraway forced to use pension money to pay off 'belated bills' after Derek's death

Kate Garraway has revealed she's using pension money to pay for bills after Derek's death. The Good Morning Britain host admitted she faced 'belated bills' following her late husband's passing and has been forced to withdraw cash from her pension to resolve her financial difficulties.

Kate, 57, was returned to screens on Monday (May 6), where she spoke with a guest who shared a heartbreaking story with viewers. Lindy Kirk spoke about her health ordeal which left her with no other option but to pay thousands privately for a faster solution.

Lindy was in excruciating pain and confined to a wheelchair when she was told she had to wait 18 months for an operation that could change her life and resorted to paying £15,000 as she decided to go private for a faster solution- a torment Kate Garraway empathised with, reports the Mirror.

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"You need every penny of that pension", she said, adding: "I'm doing something similar myself." The TV presenter then revealed she's had to withdraw from her pension to pay for her late husband's medical bills. "I've just had to withdraw the bit you can tax-free for my pension to pay belated bills for my husband that passed away."

She then turned to Dr Amir Khan, who was also in the studio, and said: "People are having to do the things which aren't what they saved for and some people don't have any savings at all."

Kate has made no secret of her money woes as she accumulated debt during Derek Draper's lengthy battle with Covid-19, which he was diagnosed with in 2020.

Sadly, Derek succumbed to the virus earlier in the year at the age of 56, leaving his widow devastated and with the task of paying for his medical bills - which amounted to a whopping £16k a month for his basic care and mobility therapy.

Speaking about her crippling debt on the set of the ITV breakfast staple, Kate Garraway admitted she felt "ashamed", particularly as her lucrative job didn't help her to make ends meet. "I am ashamed of the fact that I am in debt", she said, "because I have an incredible job that I love, that's very well paid."

She then added: "I'm not a carer travelling miles, paying their own transport to go and help somebody for minimum wage. I'm somebody that is very well paid and so I just feel a shame that I couldn't make it work."

Kate first opened up about her money worries in a documentary following the Derek's final year, aired in March and titled Kate Garraway: Derek's Story. "Derek's care costs more than my salary from ITV and that is before you pay for a mortgage, before you pay any household bills, before you pay for anything for the kids, so we are at a crunch point", she said.

"I am in debt. I can't earn enough money to cover my debt because I am managing Derek's care and I can't even use the money I do have to support Derek's recovery because it's going on the basics all the time."