Kate Garraway has candidly revealed that some gentle nudging from a GB News presenter led to her and her late husband Derek Draper hitting things off.
The Good Morning Britain presenter, 58, appeared on Jamie Laing's Great Company podcast, where she spoke candidly about her life with Mr Draper and whether romance might feature in her future.
Casting her mind back to their first meeting, Ms Garraway told the Made in Chelsea star that none other than Gloria De Piero was instrumental in them finding their spark.
"Derek was introduced to me by a girl called Gloria De Piero, in the old GMTV Studios," Ms Garraway began. "She said, 'Oh, my God, you and Derek Draper, I'm having an epiphany.'"
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Kate Garraway's husband Derek Draper's funeral took place in February last year | PAAt the time, Ms Garraway admitted she was clueless as to who Mr Draper was. " And she said, 'Perfect', because he did have quite a reputation," the GMB star quipped.
The 58-year-old went on: "He'd Googled who he thought was me, and it was actually weather presenter, Andrea McLean.
"Now, she's gorgeous, (so) he was terribly excited about this blind date," Ms Garraway dryly remarked.
"I went not knowing (the date) had been set up, chatting away, lots of drinks, lovely, and then Gloria went over to him and said, 'What do you think of Kate?'
" He said, 'Well, she's not shown up'. And she said, 'Well, she's over there.' And he went, 'That's not Kate.'"
Luckily, the mistaken identity issue was soon resolved, with Ms Garraway joking that he was "horribly disappointed" to be set up with her rather than Ms McLean.
"Then we did end up talking, and we arranged to meet," she added, before revealing how their first proper date didn't exactly get off to the smoothest of starts.
"He called me on the day when I was blow-dried, fake tanned, just putting on the double spanx to say, 'I'm going to have to cancel this because something's come up.'
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GB News star Gloria De Piero set up Derek Draper and Kate Garraway
|GB NEWS
"He said, 'I'd forgotten, I'm supposed to be serving cheese and wine at the amateur Watercolour exhibition at my local church'. He said, 'If you were interested, you could come along.'"
Ms Garraway revealed she did indeed go along, although she was expecting the tale to be a cover story.
She explained: "So I turned up thinking, 'This is going to be a wind-up. There'll be a car. We're going to a helicopter to Paris'.
"No, there he was in a hand-knitted pink jumper, serving cheese and wine to the elderly congregation."
Derek Draper died in January 2024 after one of the longest battles with Covid complications | GETTYAs she and Mr Laing laughed, Ms Garraway added: "So my first thought was I wish I hadn't worn heels because it's a cobbled floor. And the second thought was this is not gonna be dull."
Later in the chat, Ms Garraway opened up about the possibility of dating again following the death of her husband almost two years ago.
"I wouldn't like to think that I never had romantic love in my life ever again. I think that would be rather a sad way to go through life, wouldn't it?" she admitted.
However, Ms Garraway conceded she was "not there yet" in regard to finding a potential partner. "I don't know if anybody would want me," she added.
Gloria De Piero attended Derek Draper's funeral
|GETTY
Mr Draper died on January 3, 2024, at the age of 56, following a cardiac arrest brought on by complications from COVID-19.
The political lobbyist and psychotherapist had first contracted the virus in March 2020, right at the start of the pandemic, and was placed into an induced coma.
He spent over a year in hospital before eventually returning home, where Ms Garraway became his full-time carer.
The couple had been married since 2005 and share two children together – daughter Darcey, now 19, and son William, known as Billy, who is 16.