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Kate Garraway has often been very open about her life, especially when she was caring for her late husband, Derek Draper after he contracted Covid-19. Sadly, Derek passed away on January 3, 2024, and Garraway has spoken about her grief in recent months.
Not only was she open about her husband’s struggles, but Kate, who's father was rushed to hospital over the summer, has also recently talked about her smoking and vaping addiction.
Kate Garraway talks about her smoking and vaping addiction
Metro reports that Kate Garraway took to Good Morning Britain (GMB) to talk about her struggles with smoking and vaping. As per the media, Kate quit vaping in 2019 before heading to Australia for I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.
Like many smokers, Kate had switched from cigarettes to vapes in 2009 after the birth of her son Billy. However, before quitting, the former GMB host had been caught smoking in her car whilst pregnant with her child in 2006. As per Mirror, she was seen smoking three or four cigarettes in ‘quick succession’. At the time, Garraway apologised:
I feel so mortified by all of this. I'm just so cross with myself. I feel like a complete idiot. I can't believe that I've got through my pregnancy and then I've cracked at the last stage.
I feel like I've let myself and everyone down but no one can be more angry at me than myself. I don't want to make excuses for myself because there are no excuses.
Back to the present day, she told GMB hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley that after her son was born, she was ‘craving going back to smoking [but] didn’t want to’, so she switched to vapes.
She explained that a friend of hers had suggested the switch and thought it was ‘amazing’ adding that everyone was saying it was better for you and she was able to get her ‘nicotine hit’.
I thought it was amazing because it didn’t smell, at that point, you could do it anywhere, it must have been like smoking in the 70s, you didn’t have to stand outside. Everybody said it was better for you, and I did feel much better. I got the nicotine hit.
Nonetheless, eventually, Kate gave up vaping and used chewing gums and sprays when her cravings hit. However, in 2023, her addiction returned.
Kate Garraway’s addiction returned
As per Metro, Kate Garraway revealed that one day she picked it up on the set of GMB and she was ‘instantly addicted’.
I think we had some props in here or something ridiculous, and I picked it up and I was instantly addicted, like beyond anything!
She then adds that the disposable vapes are particularly addictive:
I couldn’t believe it and it made me realise how, particularly those disposable ones, are so addictive.
Garraway then revealed that her late husband, Derek, who 'hated' all forms of smoking, had warned her about vapes, saying that it had taken years to find out smoking was bad for you and that the same thing was likely to happen with vapes.
I can remember Derek funnily enough saying, when I said, “Oh I think this is good,” because he hated smoking in all forms, he said, “It took 200 years to discover tobacco was bad for you, these are going to be bad for you.”
She then explains that disposable vapes are ‘everywhere’ and they ‘deliver such a hit’ that she thinks the ban that the Government is implementing next summer may not be the solution:
They’re so easy to do, and they deliver such a hit, so I don’t know that it’s a solution to ban the disposable ones, but they’re everywhere.
She finishes by saying that she isn’t sanctioning vaping and that she ‘hated’ herself due to it:
The last thing I want to do is anyway in sanction [vaping], because I don’t now. This is not a sanction. I hated myself for it.
Read more:
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Sources used:
Metro: ‘Kate Garraway reveals Good Morning Britain moment that ‘instantly’ sparked vaping addiction’
Mirror: ‘KATE PUFFAWAY’