Kate Garraway hits back after trolls slam her for laughing after Derek's death

09 February 2024 , 08:05

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Kate Garraway hits back after trolls slam her for laughing after Derek's death

Kate Garraway slammed trolls who attacked the Good Morning Britain host on social media for laughing with co-host Ben Shephard following her return to the show after Derek Draper's funeral last week.

The GMB presenter said: "I got a bit of flack on social media yesterday of laughing with you as though that would imply I didn't care. But when you laughing you're laughing because you want the joy that person brought to continue. And you know that people watching at home have got troubles in their life and you want to share that joy with them. So it's a licence to laugh and to cry and to be all things."

"You always need to be encouraged to laugh when I make a joke," Ben quipped as Kate burst out laughing and said: "I have to laugh."

Cruel trolls slammed Kate for laughing with Ben (ITV)

Kate opened up on her experience with grief as actor Larry Lamb joined GMB to talk about the death of his brother in 2019 ahead of the National Day of Reflection. The EastEnders and Gavin and Stacey star reflected on the importance of this day especially for those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

Kate said: “We were talking around this time last year, about the day of reflection and the importance of it and, obviously I'm in a very different place and very aware of the sensations of grief, although also very aware, that actually I'm only at the first stages and there's so many different stages of it all.

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"But, particularly aware of how tough it was for those during Covid who didn’t have the chance to have a funeral where they could hug loved ones and all of those things, which is why it's so important to have this chance and this moment.”

Kate returned to host GMB on Thursday after an emotional interview on Monday when she opened up on how her children have been handling the loss of their father. Derek died in January after years of battling serious health complications due to coronavirus.

Kate Garraway hits back after trolls slam her for laughing after Derek's death (ITV)

The 56-year-old was said to be one of the UK's longest-suffering Covid patients, spending 13 months in hospital after contracting the virus in March 2020. He was left with extensive damage to his organs and needed daily care.

Addressing her decision to return to work, Kate said: "I think some people say: Why are you going back to work? Well, everybody does have to, don't they? Life has to start."

"I'm going to look forward really to coming into the world and sharing what's going on for everybody else and connecting with everybody again," she added. "So, thank you for having me back, and have a little bit of patience. I might be a bit rusty."

Charlotte McIntyre