The battle lines drawn in Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford’s divorce became clear at a key moment this week.
On Wednesday morning, Ruth was seen beaming as she left her hairdresser’s shop, near the estranged couple’s £3.2million marital home in Surrey. With a glamorous ‘do, she stopped to smile for the paparazzi on her way to her lucrative job at shopping channel QVC. I was told she was ‘very cheerful’.
Meanwhile, a few miles away, Eamonn was described as having ‘lost his mojo’ at the GB News headquarters in Paddington, west London, where he presents the breakfast show.
Colleagues were said to have been ‘worried’ about him as they saw him walking through the studios. After his three hour time he was indeed driven away in a Range Rover looking dejected.
Unlike Ruth, 64, there was no smile and no acknowledgment from the cameras. “He just wanted to go home,” says a colleague. It is unclear where ‘home’ is and whether he has left the couple’s Weybridge country home.
Ruth looked cheerful as she left her hairdresser near the estranged couple’s £3.2million marital home in Surrey on Wednesday morning
After his three-hour appearance on the GB News breakfast show on Wednesday, Eamonn Holmes was seen driving away in a Range Rover looking dejected
It’s been a week since Ruth’s publicist revealed out of the blue that the couple was planning to divorce after 27 years together and 14 years of marriage.
Long believed to be one of the most solid collaborations in show business, it left fans stunned. But I can reveal that rumors that the relationship was in trouble had been circulating in the TV industry for months.
And while Eamonn, also 64, is said to be devastated and against ending their marriage, he has another reason to feel annoyed. Those close to the star point out that without him Ruth might not have forged a successful career, sharing the daytime sofa with him on ITV’s This Morning, and subsequently becoming a key figure on the channel’s lunchtime panel. show loose women.
For Ruth, who met Eamonn when she was a little-known TV presenter in 1997, being the second Mrs Holmes was fruitful, to say the least. When they got together, he was highly regarded as the very well-paid – and very prominent – presenter of ITV’s breakfast programme, GMTV.
Ruth, meanwhile, had just left ITV’s regional news bulletins in Plymouth and was wandering around awaiting her big TV break. It came when she met the smooth-talking Northern Irishman after they were introduced by mutual friends. He had divorced his first wife, Gabrielle, with whom he has three children, two years earlier.
Certainly, her association with the undisputed king of daytime television seems to have brought Ruth into more influential circles. She was picked up by talent agency YMU, which also represents Ant and Dec and Claudia Winkleman.
In 1999 Ruth joined Loose Women, where she remains today. But it was in late 2006 that ITV bosses had an angle: putting Ruth and Eamonn on the This Morning sofa. Although the couple had yet to get married – they did so in 2010 – bosses realized they were looking at a potentially golden Mr and Mrs double act.
Eamonn had already quit GMTV, the breakfast show he co-hosted with Anthea Turner and later Fiona Phillips, in 2005 and presented an early morning program on Sky News.
Eamonn, 64, is driven around by his physiotherapist as he heads to a medical appointment in March
Eamonn is suffering from crippling pain after back and shoulder surgery and has to undergo hours of grueling physiotherapy every week. He is now limited to walking with a cane or using a wheelchair
They were given on Fridays when Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were off, and were also presented during the school holidays. While Phil and Holly were in their heyday for much of this time, ITV bosses secretly confided that they knew the public preferred Ruth and Eamonn.
A network employee tells me, “They did a few shows and enjoyed them. The viewers loved them. They were about as normal as you can get for a famous couple. They bickered, they lived their lives in front of the cameras. It was authentic.
“But what can’t be ignored is that Eamonn has made Ruth pure and simple. He had been a coveted and decorated announcer for years. Of course he gave her a head start.”
Their fortunes have certainly changed. There is no denying that she has surpassed her husband, with whom she has a 22-year-old son. A source who knows the couple said: ‘Ruth has come out of this relationship stronger. She played a blind spot with her career.’
It is becoming increasingly clear that Eamonn may not be able to continue working as long as his soon-to-be ex-wife. After a number of health setbacks in recent years, including a horrific fall at home in 2022, Eamonn is seen using a wheelchair.
What does that mean for the divorce? “It could get nasty,” says a friend of Eamonn. “It’s not what their viewers expected to think that they wouldn’t seem so happy on TV but might go to war over money.
Last week it was revealed that TV’s golden couple Eamonn and Ruth were planning to divorce after 27 years together and 14 years of marriage
Eamonn and Ruth married in 2010, after thirteen years together, in a lavish ceremony at the grand 19th-century Hampshire hotel The Elvetham
‘He made her. Would she make as much money if they had never met? No. He would certainly have an argument that when it comes to the distribution of money, this is taken into account.”
They developed a strong brand – even after being unceremoniously booted from This Morning in 2021 and replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary. The ax came after a series of blunders from Eamonn, including a blunder when he went on live TV to question media channels that debunked the myth that 5G wireless technology spread the coronavirus.
It was said that it had put Ruth, who was still very much entrenched on the Loose Women panel, in an incredibly awkward position at ITV and put further strain on their relationship.
However, Eamonn was in no mood to keep quiet. He took a series of swipes at the broadcaster during interviews, accusing channel heads of hypocrisy and describing those running the show as “middle-aged white executives.”
He told Mail’s Weekend magazine in 2022: ‘When are they going to get diverse with their management? The diversity can only be seen on the screen. It’s hypocritical.’
A friend of Ruth’s said: ‘The whole thing was quite embarrassing for her. The row with ITV bosses proved hugely difficult for Ruth, who remained an employee with her role in Loose Women and other shows.
“But Eamonn was going around bashing them… He claims he was fired because he’s an older white man, but Ruth was still very much in demand there. You understand that that causes friction.’
After leaving This Morning, Ruth and Eamonn signed a series of lucrative advertising deals for campaigns aimed at the over-55s, promoting everything from circulation boosters to stock release plans and bingo games.
Once again, close friends of Eamonn have been quick to point out that he was fundamental in creating their brand. What he couldn’t control, however, was his recent bout of ill health: a double hip replacement in 2016 was followed by three hernias requiring back surgery. To top it all off, he fell down the stairs in 2022, injuring his shoulder. Ruth recently revealed that at times she felt more like a caregiver than a wife.
Another source of marital trouble is the issue of Eamonn’s tax bill, a dark cloud that has hung over the couple for more than five years. In January he revealed he had been forced to sell his beloved home in his hometown of Belfast following a £250,000 tax battle with HMRC.
He had been at war with the agency for more than five years after they ruled he was a staffer and not a freelancer. He was then allegedly asked to pay additional taxes and national insurance for ten years. Everything was piling up, say insiders, and ‘something had to be done’.
Even when the divorce was announced last weekend, I was told Eamonn was against making the news public after months of trying to save his marriage.
However, Ruth was determined to run away. Far from being a joint effort, the statement was drafted by Ruth, with Eamonn refusing to play any role in it. He reportedly told his friends that he “didn’t want to get involved.”
For her part, the future at ITV looks bright. She didn’t appear on Loose Women this week but plans to return. One source said: ‘This split will only add to Ruth’s story, to her brand. Even if they are separated, Ruth will benefit.” No wonder Eamonn looks so down.