Kate Garraway's 'close friend' breaks silence as he admits 'there's a spark between us'

The man linked to ITV presenter Kate Garraway has broken his silence following reports the star was “smiling again” after growing close to one of her broadcasting friends. The Good Morning Britain presenter, 58, has reportedly been leaning on her close friend Liam Halligan two years after the death of her husband Derek Draper, who was left in a coma battling Covid-19.

Liam opened up about the rumours during an appearing on Ian Collins TalkTV show. Although ostensibly there to discuss the economy Ian ambushed him at the end of their chat with a question about his friendship with Kate. He bashfully confirmed the stories saying: "I've known Kate for many years, as you'd expect, but in recent weeks and months, we've got to know each other a lot better. We've got lots of friends in common. I think there's a definite spark between us. We're both single, both media people, and we've been spending more time together, but it's early days, and we'll see what happens."

Kate and Liam have known each other for 20 years, and he was also a close friend of Derek’s. At the weekend the pair were spotted together at The Railway Arms pub in Liam’s hometown of Saffron Walden, Essex.

In one snap from the evening, Kate posed with some other friends while Liam could be seen in the background, chatting to someone else. They reportedly seemed “very happy”, with sources claiming Kate has been seen at Liam’s home “quite a few times” in “recent weeks”.

This latest development in Kate's personal life comes just months after she was forced to confront AI images of her "new boyfriend" online.

In January this year the star spoke out after fans were left confused by online rumours claiming she had found love again.

The Good Morning Britain presenter took to Instagram to address a fake image circulating online that appeared to show her with a mystery man, prompting some to believe she had moved on romantically. In a tongue-in-cheek post, Kate shared a screenshot of a headline referencing the false claim and joked: “Very excited to see my ‘new boyfriend’ revealed in @thesun today — isn’t he #dreamy?!!”

However, the TV star quickly turned serious as she explained that the image had been created using artificial intelligence. Kate typed: “Seriously though, thank you @clemmiemoodie for highlighting this, for months now people (even those who know me really well) have been asking me about stuff out there that is totally fake.

“On one level, it’s really sweet that people care about my life, but very confusing and in some cases, hurtful for the kids when it’s #fakenews." She added: “Thank goodness we still have some proper ‘human’ journalists out there, but this is something all of us need to think about when getting our ‘news’ on the net, that it’s a trusted source.

"In this case, it only affects me really and is fundamentally silly and daft, but imagine if it were something more important, the damage it could do? #properjournalism #gmb."