‘Numb’ Kate Garraway reveals she has been attacked on social media for laughing on GMB weeks after the death of her husband Derek as she says: ‘It was implied I didn’t care!’

Kate Garraway has revealed she was attacked on social media by trolls for laughing during her return to Good Morning Britain on Thursday.

The TV presenter put on a brave face as she came back to work this week alongside co-host Ben Shepherd, after the death of her husband Derek Draper aged 56.

During a conversation with actor Larry Lamb and Marie Curie bereavement coordinator  Claire Collins, Kate opened up about the hate she had received online.

She said: ‘I got a bit of flack on social media yesterday for laughing with you [Ben], as if that implied I didn’t care… I have to laugh!’

Kate admitted she has been feeling ‘numb’ since the loss of Derek, as she said that ‘nobody is equipped to deal with it [death].

The GMB host went on to say that her children have been struggling with how to deal with other people who feel uncomfortable around them.

Kate Garraway has revealed she was attacked on social media by trolls for laughing during her return to Good Morning Britain on Thursday

During a conversation with actor Larry Lamb and Marie Curie bereavement coordinator Claire Collins, Kate opened up about the hate she had received online (pictured on Thursday)

She said: ‘I’m trying to help my children, one thing they’ve said is that people don’t know what to say to them. They want to help other people to feel comfortable with them. Not to ignore it, but to help..’

Kate added: ‘Ben wants to know how to support me, so how does he do that?’

Kate returned to presenting duties on Thursday for the first time since the death of her husband, telling delighted viewers that ‘life has to start again’ and ‘nothing has changed’. 

Kate opened the show with long time colleague Ben who told her she had ‘done Derek proud’ with her conduct following his funeral last week.

Kate thanked him and admitted to feeling ‘wobbly’, but said: ‘I definitely wanted to make it about Derek not about me.

‘It was really lovely as well to feel so much love from everybody here.’

Last week, the presenter choked back tears on the programme just three days after husband Derek’s funeral to reveal heartbreaking details of his final hours – and how daughter Darcey, 17, told him, ‘We’ll be OK, Dad’ before he slipped away.

Speaking about her decision to return to the show this morning, Kate affirmed that ‘life has to start again’. 

She said: ‘I got a bit of flack on social media yesterday for laughing with you [Ben], as if that implied I didn’t care… I have to laugh!’

Kate returned to presenting duties on Thursday for the first time since the death of her husband, telling delighted viewers that ‘life has to start again’ and ‘nothing has changed’.

She said: ‘I don’t know how it’s going to be. Grief isn’t containable in a day or year.

‘People ask why I’m going back to work. Life has to start. We have to pick ourselves up and go on.

‘That’s what Derek would want me to do. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.

‘We have to pick ourselves up, that’s what Derek did and would want us to do.’ 

Garraway said today that it was lovely, but ‘odd’ to be back at the desk.

Ben Shephard complimented Kate’s professionalism on her return

Garraway said today that it was lovely, but ‘odd’ to be back at the desk

Former lobbyist Derek Draper, 56, faced devastating health complications after his body was ravaged by coronavirus three years ago – pictured here with his wife Kate Garraway in 2019 

Towards the end of his life, Kate became a full time carer to Derek (Pictured at the National Television Awards in London in 2007

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It is the first time Kate has presented the show since December (Pictured last week at Derek’s funeral)

‘The make-up girls had me in tears this morning just by saying hello,’ Garraway said at the beginning of the programme.

‘Thank you to all of you at home as well, I know I mentioned it on Monday but you have been incredible.’

Co-host Ben Shephard joked he would give Garraway a bit of ‘leeway’ before saying she did her husband proud with the ‘extraordinary funeral’.

‘You really did Derek proud, it was an extraordinary thing,’ he said. 

Kate also joked: ‘I’m going to be looking forward to a blow dry.

‘I’m going to be finding fake eyelashes. I’m going to be very much looking forward to applying fake tan.

Viewers were delighted to see Kate’s return following her long hiatus 

Last week, she revealed details of Derek’s final hours on the show and what her daughter had told her father before he passed

Laura Tobin shared a sweet photo with Kate who wished her well on her return 

Susanna Reid praised Kate on her return and said it was good to have her back

Viewers were effusive in their praise for Kate’s long-awaited return to the screen

‘Don’t worry, I will be a little bit more respectable by Thursday. I’ll be doing a lot of homework between now and then because I feel like I’ve been in a very small bubble. 

‘So 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.

‘So, thank you for having me back, and have a little bit of patience. I might be a bit rusty… there is a new king, isn’t there? Have I caught up with that?’

Kate also said that someone calling her a widow for the first time ‘took her breath away’.

During the show Ben Shephard, thanked viewers for their ‘lovely messages’ and read out one which said: ‘Lovely to see you back, Kate, with Ben. As a widow myself, I know those wobbly feelings. Thank you for always thinking of others.’ 

The message prompted Garraway to say: ‘The other day, somebody called me a widow for the first time – it took my breath away. It was an Amazon delivery person who said “I’m so sorry for your loss now that you’re a widow” and you suddenly realise, and I suddenly realised, what everyone goes through. 

‘That every single moment is something new and we’ve all just got to get through it and everybody has it with all sorts of things they’re facing. 

‘I really get what people feel about these things.’ Garraway also thanked the viewers for their supportive messages. 

As she and Shephard chatted with Lorraine Kelly ahead of handing over to her show, the TV host told Garraway: ‘It’s fantastic to see you back… back where you belong.’ 

It is the first time Garraway has presented the show since December 8 last year when she was forced to take a break due to Derek’s deteriorating condition. 

Last week, she revealed details of Derek’s final hours on the show and what her daughter had told her father before he passed.

She said her daughter Darcey had told Draper: ‘Dad, if you can’t do this we’ll be OK. You release yourself if you need to go.

‘Don’t worry about us, don’t worry about mum. We’ll be fine because you live on through us.’