Quick answer: Kate Garraway’s new partner is Liam Halligan, an Irish-British economist, journalist, and broadcaster who presents The Telegraph’s weekly Planet Normal podcast. Their relationship became public in May 2026, roughly two years after Kate was widowed following the death of her husband Derek Draper in January 2024. Kate has described the romance as “lovely.”
Few stories in British celebrity culture carry the emotional weight of Kate Garraway’s. She spent nearly four years as one of the country’s most visible caregivers — a television presenter who never stopped showing up for work, for her children, and for a husband whose survival against COVID-19 complications became a story that gripped the nation. When Derek Draper died in January 2024, the outpouring of public grief was genuine. Kate had let people in, and they hadn’t forgotten.
So when photos emerged in May 2026 of Kate beaming alongside a man named Liam Halligan — at a charity cycling event, no less — it wasn’t just celebrity gossip. For many people, it felt like something worth rooting for. A second chapter. A reason to smile.
This piece covers everything about Kate Garraway’s new partner, her remarkable career, her life before and after Derek, and the quiet, unhurried way a new romance has found its way into her story.
Biography Snapshot
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Kate Elizabeth Garraway |
| Known As | Kate Garraway |
| Date of Birth | 4 May 1967 |
| Age | 59 (as of 2026) |
| Birthplace | Berkshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Profession | Television presenter, journalist, broadcaster |
| Years Active | 1994–present |
| Known For | Good Morning Britain, Life Stories, Finding Derek |
| Relationship Status | In a relationship with Liam Halligan (2026) |
| Children | Two – Darcey (20) and Billy (16) |
| Education | University of Exeter |
| Net Worth | Estimated £1.5 million |
| Social Media | @kategarraway (Instagram, X/Twitter) |
Early Life and Background
Kate Garraway was born on 4 May 1967 in Berkshire, England. Growing up in a comfortable, grounded household, she showed early signs of the sharp curiosity and warmth that would eventually make her one of Britain’s most recognized faces on morning television.
She studied at the University of Exeter, where an interest in communication and current affairs took root. It was the kind of academic foundation that suited someone drawn to both storytelling and substance — two qualities that have defined every chapter of her career since.
There is no dramatic origin story here. No overnight transformation. Just a young woman who knew what she wanted to do and worked steadily toward it. That quiet determination would prove to be one of her most durable qualities.
The Breakthrough Moment
Kate’s broadcasting career began in 1994, when she joined ITV News Meridian as a presenter — her first significant on-screen role and the beginning of a long, evolving relationship with ITV. Six years later, in 2000, she made the move to GMTV, ITV’s flagship breakfast programme at the time, where she built a loyal audience and began to establish the easy, warm presenting style that would become her trademark.
But the true breakthrough — the moment that transformed Kate Garraway from a familiar face into a genuinely beloved national figure — arrived much later, and under circumstances no one would have chosen.
When her husband Derek Draper contracted COVID-19 in March 2020 and was placed in a coma, Kate didn’t disappear from public view. She kept presenting. She kept talking, honestly and openly, about what her family was going through. That decision — to be visible rather than retreat — connected her to viewers on a level that no scripted television moment ever could.
Career Evolution
In 2014, Kate joined Good Morning Britain, the successor to GMTV, where she has remained one of its most prominent and enduring presenters. The show gave her a bigger platform and a wider remit, and she rose to meet it with a blend of warmth, professionalism, and the occasional sharp political interview that reminded audiences she was far more than a genial morning host.
In 2022, she took over as host of ITV’s long-running Life Stories from Piers Morgan — a programme built entirely around the art of the emotional, in-depth conversation. The appointment made perfect sense. After years of living her own extraordinary story in public, Kate had an instinctive understanding of how to hold space for someone else’s.
She also hosts a show on Smooth Radio, extending her reach into audio broadcasting and demonstrating a versatility that many of her peers in television have never found.
Most Iconic Works and Achievements
Finding Derek (2021)
If there is one work that defines Kate Garraway’s public identity beyond her presenting career, it is Finding Derek — an ITV documentary she made about her husband Derek Draper’s catastrophic battle with long COVID. Raw, honest, and deeply moving, the film offered an unflinching look at what it meant to care for someone who was physically present but, for long stretches, entirely unreachable.
The documentary won the National Television Award for Best Authored Documentary in 2021. When Kate collected the award, she broke down in tears — a moment that said more than any acceptance speech could. She later produced a follow-up documentary, Derek’s Story, which also earned recognition at the NTAs.
These films are not easy viewing. They were not easy to make. And that, precisely, is what made them extraordinary.
Good Morning Britain
Kate has been a cornerstone of Good Morning Britain since 2014, and her tenure on the programme represents one of the most sustained runs of any presenter in the show’s history. Her popularity among viewers — built on a genuine sense that what you see is what you get — has given her a durability that ratings-driven television doesn’t often reward.
Honours
Kate Garraway holds an MBE, awarded in recognition of her services to broadcasting and journalism. It is an honour that sits quietly in the background of a career defined more by human connection than professional accolade.
Personal Life and Public Persona
Kate married Derek Draper on 10 September 2005 at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Primrose Hill, London. Derek was a political lobbyist and psychotherapist — a man with a complex, colourful history in British public life who had, by the time he and Kate wed, largely stepped away from political controversy to focus on his career in psychology and his family.
Together they had two children: Darcey, now 20, and Billy, now 16. By all accounts, family life was the thing they both loved most — the ordinary, domestic rhythm of it. As Kate told The Sun: “What Derek and I loved was our home life and just pottering around, and we had 21 years of that, so mentally I am still in that zone.”
Derek contracted COVID-19 in March 2020. He was, according to multiple medical accounts, one of the worst-affected surviving patients in the UK. He spent 13 months in hospital. After returning home, he faced serious ongoing complications affecting his lungs, heart, and kidneys, and was never able to fully recover. He died in January 2024.
Kate has spoken about the experience of grieving with a particular kind of honesty — the sort that doesn’t tidy grief up into something palatable. She has talked about the strangeness of moving forward, the guilt, the loneliness, and the awareness that life, eventually, keeps going whether you’re ready or not.
What Is Kate Garraway’s New Partner? Who Is Liam Halligan?
Kate Garraway’s new partner is Liam Halligan — an Irish-British economist, journalist, and broadcaster based in Saffron Walden, Essex. He has written a column for The Telegraph since 2003 and currently hosts the newspaper’s weekly Planet Normal podcast. He was previously associated with GB News as an editor and commentator.
Liam is a father of three, a keen cyclist, and — charmingly — a man who plays in a band. He is not a celebrity in the conventional sense. He is, to borrow his own phrase, “a sandwich-board man of the business pages.” Which is part of what makes the story interesting.
Crucially, Liam was already connected to Kate’s world before any romance developed. He had known her late husband Derek Draper through political and media circles. When both he and Kate found themselves, as he put it, “single against our wishes” in recent years, the friendship between them deepened into something more.
“I’ve known her for a long time,” Liam told Mark Dolan on Talk TV. “I knew Derek. I was a political commentator. In recent years, for different reasons, we have both become single, against our wishes. So, in recent weeks and months, Kate and I have become good friends.”
How Did Kate Garraway and Liam Halligan Go Public?
The relationship became public in May 2026, when Kate was spotted cheering on Liam at a charity cycling event in which he rode from London to Paris in 24 hours to raise money for Duchenne UK. The pair were photographed cuddling up together and, by all accounts, absolutely beaming.
Liam wrote about the romance in a piece for The Spectator shortly afterwards, acknowledging the unexpected nature of finding himself in the celebrity press. “As a sandwich-board man of the business pages, I’m ‘flabbergasted’ to be in the showbiz sections,” he wrote. “Nobody wanted to know about my warnings of market meltdown but reporters now follow me around, asking: ‘How’s it going with Kate?'” He confirmed there was “a definite spark” between them.
Kate spoke publicly about the relationship for the first time at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show later that month, telling the Mirror: “It is lovely. I suppose it is!” She admitted the pair had barely had time for a proper date, adding with characteristic warmth: “We all love an Irishman, don’t we?”
By June 2026, Kate was attending the TRIC Awards solo — where she collected a trophy on behalf of the Celebrity Traitors cast — and fielding questions about her new man with a smile and a light touch. Asked where Liam was, she quipped: “I didn’t get a plus one so I couldn’t bring anyone.”
Early in the relationship, the two had reportedly enjoyed a low-key date night at The Railway Arms pub in Saffron Walden, where Liam performed with his band. It is, by the standards of celebrity courtship, pleasingly understated.
Hidden Facts and Lesser-Known Insights
Beyond the headline moments, there are a few things about Kate Garraway that rarely surface in the standard celebrity profile.
She is an enthusiastic gardener — though she’ll be the first to admit her garden is currently in a state she calls “shameful.” At the Chelsea Flower Show, she mused: “There’s something magical and comforting about planting things and watching them come up.” She attributes her love of getting her hands in the soil to being a Taurus — a self-described “Taurian earth sign.”
She lost her diamond engagement ring while covering the 80th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day landings for Good Morning Britain in June 2024 — an accident that devastated her precisely because of what the ring represented. Retracing the steps of D-Day, she made the quiet decision not to make a scene about it. “Having retraced the steps of horror and their bravery, this wasn’t the moment to go: ‘My diamond ring!'” She later said she planned to have a cubic zirconia put in the setting.
She competed in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2019, long before the years that would define her public profile. She also appeared in The Traitors: Celebrity and The Masked Singer — demonstrating a willingness to throw herself into entertainment formats that many of her peers would consider beneath them.
Net Worth and Professional Influence
Kate Garraway’s estimated net worth is approximately £1.5 million, according to multiple published sources — a figure built across more than three decades in broadcasting. Her annual salary from ITV is estimated at around £544,000, according to The Mirror, though such figures are always approximate and unverified by Kate herself.
Her income is not purely from television. The Smooth Radio show, book projects, public appearances, and documentary work all contribute to a professional portfolio that reflects both her longevity and her adaptability. Few presenters who began their career in regional news in 1994 are still commanding flagship network slots in their late 50s. That is not an accident.
Fashion, Influence and Cultural Impact
Kate Garraway is not a fashion icon in the way that term is typically applied. She is not a red-carpet presence who shapes seasonal trends or anchors designer campaign imagery. Her influence runs in a different — and arguably more durable — direction.
She has spent years demonstrating what it looks like to be both professionally ambitious and genuinely, messily human. In a television landscape that often demands its female presenters be either untouchably polished or entertainingly chaotic, Kate occupies a third space: warmly authentic. She looks put-together on screen because she is, functionally, a professional. But she also cries in acceptance speeches and admits her garden is a disaster and describes herself as someone who loves getting her hands dirty.
That combination — competent and vulnerable, polished and real — has given her a cultural influence that extends well beyond the morning TV demographic. Women who watched her care for Derek while continuing to show up for work recognised something in that. Something they didn’t always see reflected back at them elsewhere.
Social Media Presence
Kate Garraway is active across Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @kategarraway on both platforms. Her social media approach mirrors her on-screen personality: warm, direct, and occasionally funny, with a genuine engagement with the people who follow her.
She uses her platforms to share behind-the-scenes glimpses of her professional life, mark personal milestones, and occasionally — now — give followers a cautious, carefully measured window into her new chapter. She is not the kind of presenter who overshares. The decision to confirm her relationship with Liam Halligan through press interaction rather than a social media announcement tells you something about how she approaches privacy: selectively, thoughtfully, and on her own terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Kate Garraway’s new partner?
Kate Garraway’s new partner is Liam Halligan, an Irish-British economist, journalist, and Telegraph columnist. Their relationship was confirmed publicly in May 2026, approximately two years after the death of Kate’s husband, Derek Draper. Kate described the romance as “lovely” when speaking to the press at the Chelsea Flower Show.
Who is Liam Halligan?
Liam Halligan is an Irish-British economic journalist and broadcaster who has written for The Telegraph since 2003 and hosts the newspaper’s weekly Planet Normal podcast. He is a father of three, a keen cyclist, and was previously an editor at GB News. He was reportedly acquainted with Kate Garraway’s late husband, Derek Draper, through political and media circles.
When did Kate Garraway start dating again?
Kate Garraway’s relationship with Liam Halligan became public in May 2026, roughly two years after the death of her husband Derek Draper in January 2024. Prior to this, Kate had spoken openly about not feeling ready to date, telling The Sun: “I don’t feel as if I can. It feels preposterous at the moment to think of being with anyone else.”
How did Kate Garraway and Liam Halligan meet?
Kate Garraway and Liam Halligan knew each other through overlapping media and political circles — Liam had been acquainted with Kate’s late husband, Derek Draper. Liam has explained that the two became closer friends after both found themselves “single against our wishes” in recent years, with their friendship gradually evolving into a romantic relationship.
What happened to Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper?
Derek Draper, a political lobbyist and psychotherapist, contracted COVID-19 in March 2020 and was placed in a coma. He became one of the most severely affected surviving COVID patients in the UK, spending 13 months in hospital and suffering complications affecting his lungs, heart, and kidneys. He and Kate had been married since 2005. Derek died in January 2024. Kate documented parts of his illness and care in two ITV documentaries: Finding Derek (2021) and Derek’s Story.
A New Chapter, Quietly Begun
There is something genuinely moving about the way Kate Garraway’s new relationship with Liam Halligan has unfolded. No grand announcement. No calculated media rollout. Just two people who knew each other, who both lost something significant, and who found — carefully, cautiously — that the world hadn’t entirely closed down around them.
Kate said it best herself: “It’s lovely. And it’s lovely to have you all caring.”
For a woman who has given the public so much of her actual life over the past six years, that quiet, grateful acknowledgement feels just right. Not a performance. Not a headline. Just someone finding their way forward, one proper date at a time.
If you’ve been following Kate’s story, you might also enjoy our profiles of other British television presenters who have navigated personal and professional reinvention in the public eye [internal link]. For more on the life and legacy of Derek Draper, including Kate’s documentary work, read our deeper dive into Finding Derek and its impact [internal link]. And if you’re curious about how Liam Halligan’s world of economics journalism intersects with his new public profile, our piece on media personalities crossing between news and entertainment has some useful context [internal link].
Emma Clarke is a content writer at Gaukurinn.is, specializing in celebrity news, pop culture, movies, and music. With a strong focus on accuracy and trending topics, she creates engaging and well-researched articles that keep readers informed and entertained.
Emma follows trusted sources and editorial standards to ensure content is reliable, relevant, and up to date. Her goal is to deliver clear, valuable information that readers can trust.
