KATE Garraway sparked concern as she went “missing” from Good Morning Britain today.
The ITV anchor, 56, failed to appear on this morning’s episode, with Charlotte Hawkins, 48, taking her place in the hotseat alongside Richard Madeley, 67.
Kate usually appears either as the main presenter on Thursday, or as newsreader, if Susanna Reid, 53, is on the front desk.
Yet the mum-of-two was nowhere to be seen in the ITV studio, with Marverine Cole reading out the headlines.
As Good Morning Britain opened, Richard and Charlotte didn’t address Kate’s unexpected no-show.
Instead, they talked about the five spooked military horses which went on a rampage around London yesterday.
This led to a chat about Charlotte’s own passion for riding and a horror incident when she was “thrown off a horse” which had been spooked by a dog.
An ITV spokesperson told The Sun how Kate is enjoying two days of annual leave, after working on GMB for a full five days last week.
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TOUGH TIMES
It has been a tough year for Kate, who lost her husband Derek Draper, also 56, back in January.
The political lobbyist tragically died following four years of health struggles.
Derek was left fighting for his life in hospital after suffering a heart attack over the festive period, and he was already one of the UK’s longest-suffering Covid patients.
In a recent GMB episode she candidly opened up on attempting to access her spouse’s pension funds early, to help pay for the crippling costs of his care.
She had previously told The Sun about the huge medical fees she faced as she confessed “there’s no special treatment because I’m on TV”.
BUSY BEE
Smooth Radio host Kate has also juggled her ITV presenting duties with fronting Derek’s final documentary series.
Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story came after Kate’s two previous award-winning films, Finding Derek and Caring for Derek.
When asked why he wanted to take part in the film prior to his passing, Derek said: “I want to be heard.”
Kate then added: “Obviously when we started making this documentary early last year, we had no idea the events that would unfold that ultimately took Derek from us.”
