Myleene Klass says she’s being ‘really respectful’ while standing in for pal Kate Garraway

Myleene Klass has said that she is being ‘really respectful’ to her friend Kate Garraway after standing in for her on Smooth Radio.

The presenter, 42, has temporarily taken over the GMB star’s 10am to 1pm slot, amid her husband Derek Draper’s 13-week coronavirus battle. 

Kate, 53, has stepped back from all platforms in recent weeks, as her husband Derek, 52, remains critically ill in intensive care with ‘extraordinary damage’ caused by COVID-19.

Talking about her friend and the radio show, Myleene told MailOnline: ‘I go to radio everyday and I’m very aware that I sit in Kate’s chair. I have to be really respectful.’ 

She added: ‘It’s Kate Garraway. I’m looking after her show and I know how poorly her husband is.’

Myleene added that she is very mindful of other people’s situations during lockdown. 

She said: ‘I just think I feel really fortunate that I have got the opportunity to be able to sit and do that job knowing there’s so many other people out there doing far greater or more important jobs than I am. 

‘You feel very fortunate and lucky that you can do your part.’

Myleene revealed that a listener wrote in to tell her that she hasn’t seen or spoken to anyone in ten weeks, with her voice the only one she hears.

She said: ‘That really choked me. A lot of people think, “What are you doing, what does that job entail?” Really, when you break it down, some people are solely reliant on you giving information. You give people soul food, which is just as important.’

Earlier this month, Myleene shared a sweet throwback video of Kate and Derek dancing together to Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds.

It was posted hours after Kate gave an emotional update on his COVID-19 battle, she said she ‘doesn’t know’ if Derek can recover from the ‘extraordinary damage’ COVID-19 has inflicted on his body.

Myleene captioned the video: ‘Your interview had me in tears. You are being so incredibly brave.

‘Till we do this again, you and Derek burning up the dance floor…me and Sim lining up the drinks.’

Myleene also posted a fun selfie of herself with Kate, which she captioned: ‘Keeping your seat warm @smoothradio. Love, love and more love to you.’  

During a TV interview earlier this month, Kate broke down in tears as she revealed critically-ill husband Derek thanked her for ‘saving his life’ before he slipped into a coma during his 10-week battle with coronavirus.

Kate said: ‘Well there will be tears, I’ll try to keep them down, he’s still with us, he has fought the most extraordinary battle, the fact that he’s still here and holding on.

‘I am so grateful that he’s still here, and I’ve got the option of praying while others have lost that. He’s very, very sick and as time goes on, it’s a virus, it’s like a computer virus, the doctors manage one but there seems to be a flicker of hope and other things emerge and they’re fighting that.

‘It has affected him from the top of his head to the tip of his toes.’

She added: ‘He is now COVID free, he has tested negative, the fight with the virus is over but it’s wreaked extraordinary damage on his body and we don’t know if he can recover from that.’ 

During her interview, Myleene also insisted that she has made sure her children are ‘mindful’ of other people’s situations during lockdown.

She said: ‘It’s time to come together and chat at the table. Say, “Look, let’s be really mindful of other people’s situations and what other people are going through at the moment.” It makes you feel even more fortunate over what you do have together.

‘It makes you hold on tight to it. It has slowed down, I’m not racing to meetings, the girls aren’t racing to gym, ballet, everything else. It’s really nice to reflect and think about actually, this is family time now.’ 

Myleene is working with McCain, as part of its Nation’s Conversations research series, which has found 8 in 10 people want to retain some aspect of their current regime when lockdown ends.  

The star has spoken about the highs and lows of family life in lockdown and shined a light on the opportunity it has given many families to slow down, to spend more time together and enjoy more mealtimes as a family during lockdown. 

As such, she recited the poem The Family Pledge, created from those things that families across the UK have pledged to continue doing together once lockdown eases and we start our new normal.

Filmed in her London home by partner Simon and her two daughters – Ava, 12, and Hero, nine, the verse sees lines such as ‘sugar-rush laughter, movie nights, empty bowls; mealtimes with loved ones’, which Myleene said have been important to her. 

She said: ‘The poem really does strike such a chord, those movies nights you get, times you feel whole around table. Those elements do strike straight in the heart.

‘To be able to sit down and finish a movie with my family, I usually fall asleep as I am so tired or trying to get the baby up to bed so I’m tired. It’s just so lovely to slow down and have that time, we don’t have to be anywhere.’

Myleene pledged to keep doing her Music Klass with her daughters and sitting down with her family at the kitchen table to talk.   

You can make your family pledge using #McCainFamilyPledge on social media.