She’s recently delighted her innumerable admirers by repeatedly – and very publicly – breaking into the sort of smile that they feared they might never see from her again.
But, even though overjoyed by her increasingly ‘close’ friendship with rugged broadcaster Liam Halligan, Kate Garraway has yet to escape the shadows cast by the harrowing final years of her late husband, lobbyist turned psychotherapist Derek Draper.
Indeed I can disclose that Good Morning Britain presenter Kate must now contend with the attentions of an insolvency debt recovery agent, Grace & Good, because of his company Astra Aspera. She is now its sole director.
It’s the latest development in the punishing financial saga which has dogged her since Derek was afflicted by long Covid, after first falling ill in 2020 when he was put into an induced coma. The following four years, during which Kate yo-yoed between hope and despair, became the subject of three documentaries, ending with Derek’s Story, broadcast following his death in 2024, aged 56.
By then, Kate was faced with terrifying debts – possibly as much as £800,000 – as all her salary and more went on the £16,000-a-month cost of her husband’s care. Meanwhile, debts accumulated by Astra Aspera had grown every day Draper was unable to work.
It’s in a bid to eliminate those debts – including £288,000 owed to HMRC – that the company’s liquidators have appointed Grace & Good.
Kate Garraway is now the sole director of her late husband Derek Draper’s company, Astra Aspera, and has been working to try and resolve its debt, reveals Richard Eden
Kate’s spokesman tells me she ‘has been working fully with the liquidators and their agents to try to resolve things on Derek’s behalf’.
Such an outcome would have appalled the young Draper who, in the 1990s, became a lobbyist after first being a researcher for Peter Mandelson, who memorably declared he was ‘intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich’.
Traitors! Scots star blasts English crews in Highlands
The BBC has betrayed the Scottish people by using English crew to shoot The Traitors, claims Alan Cumming, who presents America’s version of the hit television show.
The Traitors is filmed at Ardross Castle in the Highlands and Cumming says: ‘Most of the people who work on it come up in teams from down south.
Alan Cumming, who presents the American version of Traitors, said most of the people who work on the BBC version ‘come up in teams from down south’
‘There are roles which Scottish people could be doing.’
The X-Men star adds: ‘It does feel as if we have lost our sense of homegrown. Our film and TV industry is suffering.’
A spokesman for the producers, Studio Lambert, tells me: ‘The show makes a substantial contribution to the Scottish economy, employing Scottish crew and facilities across a wide range of roles while investing in local production talent and training.’
Sue Perkins is mourning her beloved rescue dog, Tiggy, whom she shared with her former girlfriend Anna Richardson.
The TV presenter, 56, posted a photo online of her holding the paw of the Staffordshire bull terrier, writing: ‘She was so loved, but in the end we chose to break our hearts rather than see her in pain. I love you, Sweet Tig, always.’
Kirsty has pop at being Madonna
She had a No1 hit with the song Black Coffee, which she co-wrote for girl band All Saints about her relationship with Swiss entrepreneur Ernesto Bertarelli.
But Kirsty Bertarelli clearly aspires to be the Queen of Pop.
Songwriter and pageant queen Kirsty Bertarelli dressed up in Madonna’s iconic triangle bra costume for her friend’s birthday party and, right, the Queen of Pop performing in the outfit
For the former Miss UK, 54, dressed as Madonna for her friend Stuart Simpson’s 69th birthday party, whose dress code was fashion from 1969 to 1989.
‘Best party ever,’ declares Kirsty, who became Britain’s richest divorcee when she and Ernesto finalised their split in 2021. She is said to have agreed to a £350million settlement with the father of her three children.
Oasis Noel’s rich list riddle
Oasis star Noel Gallagher says he had to call his accountant after learning he had made his debut on The Sunday Times Rich List.
He and his brother Liam were placed 11th among British musicians with a reported combined net worth of £375million. However, the Wonderwall singer-songwriter claims that his wealth is nothing like as high.
‘I’m excited to be in the rich list, let me tell you that,’ he says.
‘I was lying in bed this morning thinking, “I better call my accountant because I know for a fact I haven’t got that much money.”‘
Even a house with glittering showbusiness associations is struggling to sell in the current market. After Lord (Laurence) Olivier’s widow Dame Joan Plowright died last year aged 95, their three adult children put their family home up for sale. The Malthouse, in Steyning, West Sussex, went on the market for £2million. Now, the price has been slashed to £1.5million.
Olga finds lunch is no Cannes do
Don’t assume that Cannes film festival is all razzle-dazzle on La Croisette.
Former Bond actress Olga Kurylenko smiling on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival
‘It’s a lot of work, to the contrary of what people think that “it’s so glamorous,”‘ wails former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko.
‘It’s actually, like, non-stop. We’re hungry, but don’t have enough time to eat.’ The actress, 46, was speaking at the Better World Fund at the Copal Beach, where she received the Best Achievement Award for her work on the Don’t Give Up documentary, highlighting the activism work of ‘100 Guardian Angels of the planet’.
Executives desperate to bend the ear of incoming BBC boss Matt Brittin please form an orderly queue. Comedy chief Jon Petrie told a Liverpool conference: ‘I fully intend to camp outside his office, like I’m trying to get Wimbledon tickets, to meet him and make sure he understands just how vital it is that the BBC keeps backing comedy, so that this brilliant genre cannot only survive, but thrive.’ The venue to sidle up to former Olympic rower Brittin is of course the Boat Race – if the BBC hadn’t just given up broadcast rights to the ‘elitist’ event.
