Kate Garraway has revealed her son Billy felt “overwhelmed” and “emotional” as he celebrated his 11th birthday without his father Derek Draper.
Draper, 53, was hospitalised with coronavirus in March and placed in an induced coma. Good Morning Britain presenter Garraway, also 53, explained earlier this month that though he has recently regained a low level of consciousness, his recovery is “not nearly in sight and very uncertain.”
Billy marked his birthday over the weekend with a special gathering for some of his friends in his garden and camped out with them in a huge tent.
Discussing the celebrations with co-presenter Ben Shephard on Monday’s instalment of the ITV breakfast show, Garraway joked that her son would be “like the Queen,” marking his birthday multiple times.
"Because of the situation with his dad being in hospital and all of the challenges we're facing with mixing at the moment, he’s having four birthdays,” the TV star, who recently returned to Good Morning Britain after a three month hiatus, said.
“The first one was with his little friends on Saturday which was an absolute storm,” she continued, revealing how her I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here co-star Roman Kemp and his father Martin surprised the family with a birthday cake.
Garraway, who also shares 14-year-old daughter Darcy with Draper, said that while her son “absolutely loved” his party, “he was completely overwhelmed” and “emotional too, of course.”
She added: "I said we’re going to do it all again when dad gets better."
Over the weekend, Garraway shared a series of photos and videos from Billy’s birthday celebrations and revealed that her friend Myleene Klass had stepped in to organise the garden extravaganza.
“So I was super nervous about Bill’s birthday this year - we usually have a family do with grandparents & a few of his friends but obviously this [is] not possible,” she wrote.
“So we are seeing grandparents separately but wanted to do something for him & his mates in the garden. Derek is so brilliant at this, organising treasure hunts & boys own adventures so mentioned to @myleeneklass really didn’t want to let Bill down & did she know anyone with a tent we could borrow in case it was wet.
“Little did I know what I was unleashing! She is in her element! At 8.30 this morning she arrived with Apollo in tow to supervise the brilliant @sleepyteepeeuk to set up the most amazing jungle camp ever!!!”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV