Kate Garraway has recalled a moment on Good Morning Britain that reignited her vaping addiction, years after quitting.
The ITV presenter, 57, gave up vaping before heading into the I’m A Celebrity jungle in 2019, having swapped smoking for vapes after the birth of her son Billy in 2009.
However, last year, she became ‘instantly addicted’ again following a segment on GMB.
With the news of single-use vapes being banned by next summer, Kate recalled her own addiction and admitted ‘hating’ herself.
She told hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley today: ‘The last thing I want to do is anyway in sanction [vaping], because I don’t now.
‘But my experience was, after Billy was born, I did smoke before and I was craving going back to smoking [but] didn’t want to.’
Kate said a friend of hers had suggested vaping instead using refillable pens, continuing: ‘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,’ she added.
Kate did however give up ‘completely’ before I’m A Celebrity and would use chewing gums and sprays instead when she had cravings.
Last year though, her addiction was reignited, Kate revealed.
She explained: ‘I think we had some props in here or something ridiculous, and I picked it up and I was instantly addicted, like beyond anything!
‘I couldn’t believe it and it made me realise how, particularly those disposable ones, are so addictive.’
She also recalled a warning from her late husband Derek Draper, who ‘hated’ smoking.
‘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 went on: ‘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.’
Kate ended with a message to her children, saying, ‘This is not a sanction,’ and adding: ‘I hated myself for it.’
The government has now announced that single-use vapes will be banned by summer, and businesses will be given a deadline to ‘sell any remaining stock they hold and prepare for the ban coming into force’, which is expected to be on June 1 2025.
Use of vapes in the UK is estimated to have grown by 400% from 2012 to 2023, and around 9.1% of the population is now believed to buy and use them.
Kate’s comments come after reports that she had a ‘wake up call’ to ditch smoking last year, for the sake of her children.
Amid Draper’s health issues, after he contracted Covid-19 in March 2020, a source told OK!: ‘Derek’s health has remained in this declining state for a while now and has faced a lot of set-backs in recent weeks and it’s given her a wake up call that she needs to be fit and well for her kids.’
It was claimed that Kate lost weight due to the stress of being her husband’s carer, and was worried about getting ill if her smoking continued.
Draper died at the age of 56 on January 3, with Kate having spoken about her grief in recent months.
They had been married for nearly 20 years, and shared teenage children Darcey and Billy together.
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