Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway has described the "awful intrusion" of being targeted by artificial intelligence deepfakes during her period of mourning for her late husband, Derek Draper.
The fabricated photo and a year of rumours
During the Thursday 15th January edition of the ITV breakfast show, the 58-year-old broadcaster addressed persistent speculation that she had found love again. Garraway revealed these rumours were fuelled by a completely fabricated image. She explained that AI technology had been used to create a photo of her with an unidentified man, which then circulated online.
"These things started happening mainly on Facebook," Garraway stated, noting the timing was particularly painful, occurring almost to the day of the first anniversary of her husband's passing. She emphasised the existence of numerous fake social media accounts using her name and image.
From street comments to damaging narratives
The presenter initially encountered the rumours through well-meaning members of the public. "People came up to me on the street and said, 'Oh, I'm so pleased that you found love,'" she recalled. While she did not react negatively at first, considering their comments came from a place of care, the situation escalated significantly.
The turning point came when AI-powered bot sites, masquerading as legitimate news outlets, began publishing elaborate false stories. These narratives maliciously claimed that her son was "destroying the relationship because of his selfishness and missing his dad."
"I thought, this is awful, because his teachers could be reading this, trusting it as a news source," Garraway expressed with clear distress. "And his friends might read it. And it's a typical parent. You take it yourself, but you don't like it when it's your kids."
Colleagues react and a reluctant decision to speak out
The fabricated stories became so pervasive that even Garraway's Good Morning Britain colleague, Ranvir Singh, was approached by acquaintances asking about the non-existent romance. Singh remarked, "I just thought, Kate would have told me."
Co-host Richard Madeley voiced his concern about the incident, labelling it a "real intrusion into her grief." He disclosed that the production team had to persuade Garraway to address the issue on air. "Because I didn't want to give heat to it," she explained, though she conceded that "calling it out" might ultimately be the correct approach to combat the misinformation.
Derek Draper, Kate Garraway's husband, passed away in January 2024 after a prolonged battle with complications from Covid-19, which he first contracted in March 2020. The presenter has been navigating life as a widow and mother to their two children in the public eye ever since.
