by For many viewers, breakfast TV is a haven thanks to its cozy traditionalism, light topics, and the presenting duos that feel like family. But the legacy of ITV’s flagship show This Morning is taking a toll: firstly with the scandal that led to the departure of Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby in 2023, then with the news today that Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford were to present the show . for 15 years until they split in 2021, they are set to divorce – pressure from This Morning is alleged to be a factor.
A spokesman for the couple said Holmes and Langsford, both 64, “have confirmed that their marriage has ended and they are in the process of divorcing.” Neither has made any individual comments yet.
However, a source told The Sun that Holmes will share his side of the story on his GB News breakfast show on Monday. “Eamonn is always honest on camera and he understands that it will be odd for him to discuss the news of the day without mentioning the split, so he will say a few words. He is putting on a brave face.”
As for that joint statement, it was clearly at Langsford’s behest. Holmes didn’t want to go public just yet, but she decided it was time to officially confirm her split. Holmes allegedly said: “Ruth can do what she wants, but keep me out of it.” Another source suggested that Holmes knew deep down that the marriage was over, but was “sticking his head in the sand”.
Friends of the couple say their split took place a year ago, and that they are “determined to keep it a secret”. Holmes is said to have moved out of the £3.2million six-bedroom mansion in the town of Weybridge, Surrey, and is living in another property nearby.
It’s a sad end for morning TV’s golden couple – although, ironically, it was the pressure to maintain their picture-perfect image that led to this split after 14 years of marriage.
Langsford previously revealed that Holmes first saw her on television. “He was at home on Sunday morning watching Countryfile, and I was doing a piece with a camera on a boat,” she told her co-presenters on ITV’s Loose Women in 2021. wanted the money. When I met him, a few years later, he said: ‘Were you on the back of a boat in a red jacket?’”.
This meeting took place in London in 1997, soon after Holmes’ separation from first wife Gabrielle. Remembering the three Holmes children (Declan, Rebecca and Niall), Langsford recalled that they kept the budding romance a secret. “I thought it spoke volumes about the kind of father he was and his integrity,” she explained. “He loved me more, not less.”
She even compared them to a Hollywood glamor couple, saying: “Our relationship is very passionate. We are like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Even though we joke and argue, at the end of the day our love for each other and the bond we share is so strong.”
The couple had a son, Jack, in 2002, and finally married at Elvetham Hall in Hampshire, in 2010.
Over the years, they have also established a successful working relationship, presenting shows such as teatime quiz Gift Wrapped, Channel 5’s How the Other Half Lives and, of course, This Morning. Langsford became a regular presenter on the latter in 2006, following a popular guest stint, and was joined by Holmes later that year.
For a while, they were Britain’s favorite husband and wife team – although there was clearly tension even then, with many snipping comments.
During a phone call about unreasonable behavior from relatives, Holmes claimed that Langsford kept forgetting his wallet and “paid for everything”. Langsford said with a laugh “It’s not even funny, and you know it’s not true.” Even agony aunt Maria McErlane chimed in, saying “I think it’s unreasonable for Eamonn to continue to attack Ruth in this way.”
We also got a glimpse of differences in their approach to parenting when Langsford recalled the time her son Jack, then six, was performing as a cheerleader for Manchester United, but he broke down in tears and refused the exit tunnel. “You pushed it in,” she told Holmes, accusing him of “living vicariously” through her son. Holmes argued that Jack had acquired an “irrational fear” from his mother.
That cancellation continued when Holmes visited Langsford on Loose Women. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t argue with Ruth. Ruth would start a fight in an empty room,” Holmes declared. “That’s not true – I stand up for myself,” Langsford shot back.
Holmes admitted that “when you work together and live together, there’s no down time. Other TV presenters have a small disagreement on set and then jump into their cars and head home. With us it can last all day.”
They are not the only couple struggling with that level of intensity. Richard Madeley spoke of how he and his wife and This Morning co-presenter, Judy Finnigan, would have a “big hit in the car on the way to Liverpool”, where the show was recorded, and then they would have to film together and they are struggling. to hide their residual anger. “Within 30 seconds of going on air, people would be calling our phone saying ‘They’ve got each other, haven’t they?’”
But Holmes and Langsford’s disagreements were aired. A source told The Telegraph that everyone at This Morning “cried” when Holmes described his wife.
That may have led to ITV getting the pair back in November 2021 – although Holmes blasted the broadcaster for being “clever” watching him as he had already left, instead to be spent Langsford remained with ITV, continuing her tenure on Loose Women. Holmes moved to GB News.
But as their professional partnership ended, so, it seems, did their marriage, with those various work commitments in competing ways pulling them apart – even as they tried to keep up appearances. The two were torn between their long-standing brand, which is linked together as a national treasure of marriage, and these new independent personalities. Any problems were magnified when they were working in the goldfish bowl of television, which is constantly watched by the public.
Holmes suggested that Langsford might be better off moving to the guest bedroom so she wouldn’t be woken by her 2.45am alarm. That went down badly. “She laughed at me angrily and told me in no uncertain terms that she’s not going to move, so I guess that means I’m getting out,” Holmes revealed. “She was very serious.”
A lot of attention was also given to health issues. Holmes suffered from excruciating back problems caused by slipped discs and a displaced pelvis, which left him struggling to move without crutches or a walking stick. Even then, he said awkwardly: “I don’t walk; it’s more of a wobble.”
Spinal surgery in September 2022 left him with weakness in his left leg – and just weeks later Holmes suffered a horrific fall, tumbling down 18 stairs at his Weybridge home, landing on the stone floor and breaking his shoulder. “Blood was pouring out of my mouth, and a bone was sticking out of my shoulder,” he said.
“It’s really affected everyone around me,” he said. “I can’t bend down to pick things up so Ruth has to wait for me.” Holmes also revealed that he was forced to stop driving, “which felt horrible”.
He couldn’t even attend his mother’s funeral. “That was an awful low. It was unbelievable, being an Irish Catholic, that you wouldn’t be carrying your mother’s coffin.” Holmes has taken four months off work, and fears he will become homeless again.
Just this week, Langsford told Woman’s Weekly “I don’t know how much Eamonn’s mobility will improve. He does the physio, but this may never be 100 percent correct. With any care, it’s not always easy.”
Does that imply that Langsford is escaping the role of potential long-term caretaker? Interestingly, her friend and fellow Loose Women presenter Jane Moore announced in December 2022 that she was separating from her publicity husband Gary Farrow – just after Moore had spent months nursing him back to health. top of a broken leg.
It is possible that Langsford and Moore discussed their similar limited circumstances, that they both looked to a future to sacrifice their lives to the care of a sick husband in their pot, and that together they decided to cut and run. Even if that sounds like the plot of a Patricia Highsmith thriller: Loose Strangers on a Train – or The Talented Ms Langsford.
In retrospect, we should have realized that Holmes and Langsford were done. The pair have not been seen in public together since an Instagram skit to the Feeling Fabulous fashion and beauty event in July 2022.
But, whether on screen or off, it seems unlikely that Holmes will be reunited with Langsford. The only question is how these two very public figures will handle it. We were honest in all aspects of their marriage; now, viewers will expect a front-row seat to their divorce.
