Kate Garraway has pulled out of Good Morning Britain after her husband Derek Draper has taken a "very serious" turn for the worse.
The GMB host's husband, 54, has been taken back to hospital and Kate is keen to be by his side.
Derek is the worst affected living Covid patient in the UK after spending 13 months in hospital. He first contracted the virus at the beginning of 2020.
The former political advisor returned home but has been unable to fully communicate and has issues with mobility and has struggled with major health problems.
One source close to the family has told The Mirror he was “seriously unwell” and that Kate was putting all her energy into caring for him which meant she couldn’t host GMB as normal this week and needed to concentrate on Derek.
They added: “Derek is back in hospital in a very serious condition but the family knows he is in the best hands. Kate is doing everything she can for her husband. He comes first and so work will have to take a back seat this week.”
While an ITV spokesperson added: "Kate is taking some time off work over the next few days, and is hoping to be back to her normal presenting duties as soon as possible."
Kate said just weeks ago that she hoped her husband was improving after a previous stint in hospital.
Ever since Derek contracted Covid, Kate has valiantly tried to balance her work and family commitments - including looking after their two children Darcey, 16, and Billy, 12.
She has also become a full-time carer to Derek, but said recently that she's tried to remain positive.
He had a brief hospital stint earlier this month, which Kate described as a "bit of a downturn" but said that she was keeping her "fingers crossed".
She said at the time: "He's back in hospital I'm afraid so a bit of a downturn but fingers crossed.
"In terms of COVID, I mean when Derek got COVID there was no vaccine there was no treatment there was a lot of challenges, now we have those things so on that level yes it's not gone away."
Speaking to Piers Morgan last year, she spoke frankly about how the virus had "devastated" her husband and that he has been affected "from the top of his head to the tip of his toe".
"It does feel as though I walked through a fiery furnace or fell down a rabbit hole," she told Piers on Life Stories. "The world went dark and still looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, really."
She added: "It's devastated him. From the top of his head to the tip of his toe. His digestive system, his liver, his kidneys, his heart, his nervous system. We're pretty sure that the inflammation did pass through the brain.
"He still can't communicate, he still has issues with mobility. Fundamentally, he's in a terrible state."
