Kathryn Mary Draper Garraway[2]MBE (born 4 May 1967[3]) is an English broadcaster and journalist. In the 1990s, Garraway was a journalist for ITV News Central and later a co-presenter of ITV News Meridian. From 2000 to 2010, she co-presented GMTV.[4] Currently, Garraway is the presenter of Mid Mornings with Kate Garraway on Smooth Radio and newsreader (on Thursdays) and co-anchor (on Fridays) of the ITV Breakfast programme Good Morning Britain.
Early life
Garraway was born in Abingdon-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.[nb 1][5] Her father was a civil servant and her mother was a teacher. She attended Dunmore Primary School and Fitzharrys School in Abingdon.[6] She then graduated from Bath College of Higher Education (now Bath Spa University) with a degree in English and History.[7][8]
Career
Television
In 1989, Garraway joined the South edition of ITV News Central on ITV Central as a production journalist, reporter and news presenter. In 1996, she became co-presenter of the South East edition of ITV News Meridian on ITV Meridian after she was "talent spotted" by a boss who viewed her presenting a three-minute bulletin on ITV Central.
Garraway joined GMTV in September 2000, co-presenting GMTV Today with Andrew Castle each Friday (and Thursdays later on). Garraway eventually went on to share presenting duties with Fiona Phillips and Emma Crosby. In 2009, when GMTV relaunched, she co-hosted the programme with Ben Shephard, presenting on Mondays, Tuesdays and alternate Wednesdays. During Garraway's time at GMTV, she had also co-presented with Eamonn Holmes, John Stapleton and Dan Lobb. She presented her final show on 31 August 2010.
Garraway became entertainment editor of Daybreak on ITV Breakfast (the successor to GMTV) in September 2010.[1] On 6 December 2011, she took over from Christine Bleakley as the main presenter on an interim basis.[9] On 4 May 2012, it was announced Lorraine Kelly would become the permanent replacement for Bleakley in September 2012.[10][11] On 3 August 2012, it was reported that Garraway had signed a new contract to present each Friday in Kelly's absence.[citation needed] On 15 February 2014, it was announced Kelly would additionally front the Friday edition of Lorraine.[12]
On 3 March 2014, it was reported that Daybreak would be cancelled and replaced with Good Morning Britain.[13] However, with these changes came the news that Lorraine Kelly would be presenting Lorraine five days a week, meaning that Garraway no longer continued to present Kelly's show on Fridays. She hosted her final Daybreak and Lorraine shows on 25 April 2014 ahead of joining Good Morning Britain the following month. Since joining Good Morning Britain, Garraway's appearances on Lorraine have become less frequent.[14] Garraway once again became interim main presenter on ITV Breakfast when Ben Shepherd cut his appearances each week to just two; which meant Garraway hosted four times a week until Piers Morgan joined the show later that year.
Garraway appeared in the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with professional dancer Anton du Beke. Garraway finished 8th of the 14 couples despite receiving the lowest score from the judges in every week but one, as she was repeatedly saved by the public vote, prior to her elimination in week seven.[17]
In February 2008, Garraway launched legal action against the Sunday Mirror after it published a photograph of her embracing du Beke, insinuating that they were having an affair, which the pair both denied.[18]
On 18 and 19 August 2012, Garraway co-presented two episodes of 'Weekend Breakfast' (with Colin Paterson). Over the weekend of 8 September, Garraway again presented 'Weekend Breakfast' with Colin Patterson.[19]
On 6 October 2013, she stood in for Andrew Castle for a show on LBC Radio.
Since March 2014, Garraway has presented Mid Mornings with Kate Garraway 10am–1pm on Smooth Radio.[20]
Books
She released her first book on 9 March 2017, entitled The Joy of Big Knickers (or learning to love the rest of your life).[21]
On 29 April 2021, Garraway's latest book entitled The Power of Hope was released.[22]
Garraway was married to Ian Rumsey, her former boss at ITV Meridian, from 1998 to 2002.[26]
In September 2005, Garraway married Derek Draper in Camden, London. Draper was a political aide to former Labour cabinet minister Peter Mandelson, and was at the centre of the scandal known as "Lobbygate".[27] They lived in north London and had two children together.[28][29] Draper had an unusually serious case of long COVID; he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March 2020 and remained hospitalised in a critical condition as of March 2021. Garraway stated that he "may never recover" and could have "no quality of life" due to the numerous medical complications as a result of COVID-19.[30] Draper returned home on a trial basis in April 2021,[31][32] and Garraway announced his death in January 2024.[33]
