KATE Garraway has been forced to sell off her second home amid her £800,000 debts battle.
The Good Morning Britain presenter, 58, was faced with the daunting prospect of paying back the huge sum following husband Derek’s death from covid-related illness early last year.
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The property in North London recently sold for £1.5m – but it was heavily mortgaged meaning what’s left over will barely touch the sides of the huge sum she still owes.
Good Morning Britain host Kate, 58, wanted the flat to be a long-term investment that she could turn to over the coming decade but had no choice but to sell it.
An insider said: “Kate takes paying off the debts very seriously and she’s always said she’d go to any lengths to achieve that.
“This is just part of that commitment, even if it does mean she’s had to lose the flat which she actually purchased years ago before meeting Derek and before they bought a family home together.
“Like many people, she was keeping it as a financial safety net which she thought she wouldn’t have to use so soon.”
GMB star Kate Garraway reveals she had bailiffs at her door while late Derek Draper was in a coma in hospital
Derek died last year – aged just 56 – after being crippled by an extreme case of long Covid after he caught the disease in March 2020.
The cost of caring for Derek during his four-year health nightmare ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
And Kate has claimed the £16,000 monthly cost of her late husband’s care was more than her salary from ITV.
At the same time, Derek’s psychotherapy firm Astra Aspera Ltd – which was jointly controlled by Kate – went bust owing hundreds of thousands to creditors, including a huge sum to HMRC.
A new liquidator’s report reveals how Kate has been trying to repay debts as well as a more palatable revised total.
HMRC has submitted a preferential claim of £288,054, a third of its previous submission of £716,822. It’s not known why the HMRC have dramatically dropped their demand.
There are also creditor claims of and £196,548 from four other firms including a £50,000 bank loan.
She says she already had debts of between £600,000 and £800,000 as a result of caring for Derek.
A spokesman for Kate declined to comment on the flat sale.
