Ben Shephard has paid an emotional tribute to his “on-screen wife” Kate Garraway as he leaves his gig at Good Morning Britain for ITV’s This Morning.
This Morning confirmed Ben Shephard would be co-hosting the breakfast show alongside Cat Deeley after months of speculation.
However, Ben said he did not take the decision lightly as leaving Kate was a huge deterrent to leaving the GMB show.
Ben paid tribute to the recent widow in a touching statement about leaving the breakfast show.
He said: “I’ve loved hosting Good Morning Britain over the past 10 years since it launched.”
“When I left GMTV, I always swore I’d never go back because of the early mornings and it goes to show how wrong I was.”
He continued: “I’m grateful that my extended GMB family is only next door so that whenever I get nostalgic, I know I’m not going to being far away. Although I’ll miss being on screen with them, my later starts mean I may be able to hang out with them all a bit more!
“One of the hardest decisions of course is knowing that my mornings with Kate, my on-screen wife of nearly 20 years, is coming to an end.”
“Her journey has been well documented, and I think we would all agree how remarkable she has been over the last four years.
“I won’t miss the mess but I’ve learned so much from her, as I have from all of the people I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside.”
It comes as Kate broke her own silence on Ben’s new job earlier tonight.
Taking to her Instagram, she wrote: “Massive congrats to @benshephardofficial on the @itv @thismorning role.”
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“You’ll be SOOOOO missed by EVERYONE @gmb viewers and the team alike & ofcourse especially me. BUT after 24 years hard labour by my side no one will begrudge you time off for good behaviour!!!”
“Good luck swapping early starts for (abit) of a lie in and a Kate for a Cat! @catdeeley can’t wait to see you – you’ll have a ball.”
