Kate Garraway missing from Good Morning Britain as show celebrates 8th anniversary

KATE Garraway was absent from today's Good Morning Britain as the show celebrated its eighth anniversary – with Charlotte Hawkins hosting alongside Ben Shephard instead.

The 54-year-old who normally co-hosts on Fridays with Ben was nowhere to be seen on today's show.

The reason for her absence was not given, but Charlotte expertly filled her place and tackled some big topics on the show.

Kate enjoyed some downtime recently with her son Billy, 12, after taking the pre-teen to Legoland, Windsor for a fun half-term day out.

She shared a series of funny pictures from various rides she took with her youngest son.

But the TV star clearly struggled on some of the bigger rides and can be seen looking terrified in the snaps.

She told her followers: “Bill’s #easterholidays mission was to get me to do 1 ride with my eyes open AND hands off . He did it … eventually . >> if you’ve been to @legolandwindsor before you’ll know which one I did it on.

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“Ssssh – don’t rain on my #easterparade ! #familytime #making memories #bestdayoutever #lovelegoland.”

It was a much needed break for the TV star after her life was turned upside down when her husband Derek Draper fell ill with Covid in March 2020.

He spent over a year in hospital, before finally returning home to be cared for by his GMB star wife and their children.

It’s thought Derek has been one of the worst affected cases to have survived coronavirus.

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Earlier this year, Kate revealed her husband Derek will die within three days if he's left unaided without expert care.

Kate often gets up every two hours in the night to help the overnight carer to move him in bed, and she has to wash and change his bed linen a staggering seven times a day.

She juggles that with getting up in the early hours to host Good Morning Britain.

Kate recently got emotional on GMB when she was reunited with a Covid nurse who cared for Derek in hospital.

Beth Dixon cared for both Kate's husband Derek and best-selling author Michael Rosen, who were seriously ill with the virus.

Overwhelmed Kate got up and hugged Beth partway through the chat to show her appreciation for the nurse's efforts.

Kate said: “You cared for Michael and Derek I think, I found out was two beds away. Did you care for him?”

When she replied that she did, Kate told her: “Thank you so much by the way. Thank you so much.”

Beth said: “We did everything we could. We put our all into it.”

Kate said: “Thank you so much. That is amazing. Gosh, I feel quite… I don’t know whether I can leap up and hug you but I’m going to. Thank you so much – that’s amazing.