After the shock announcement about Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford divorcing, we learn that it has ‘very much been orchestrated by Ruth’ – and that Eamonn is devastated.
Who wouldn’t be when faced, as he is, by a split he never sought after 27 years together, including 14 years of marriage?
On his GB News show this morning, Eamonn appeared calm and dignified as he broached the sad situation still wearing his wedding ring, and generously included Ruth in his comment.
‘I would just like to thank people for their support for Ruth and I over the past few days,’ he said calmly, before moving on to other matters. But there is no hiding his agony.
Both he and Ruth are 64. But while his career has become dogged by ill-health in recent years, hers has taken off on TV and with other lucrative projects.
Poor Eamonn is crippled with pain after back and shoulder surgery following a fall, he is forced to endure hours of gruelling physiotherapy each week, and is now reduced to either walking with a stick or using a wheelchair.
Both Ruth and Eamonn are 64. But while his career has become dogged by ill-health in recent years, hers has taken off on TV and with other lucrative projects
On his GB News show this morning, Eamonn appeared calm and dignified as he broached the subject still wearing his wedding ring
A friend of Ruth only added insult to injury when she declared his wife ‘is still a woman with a real zest for life and in the end it [his illness] just started to get her down.
‘She needs her own life, to get out and enjoy herself, to have some fun,’ the friend added, before condemning him still further: ‘Ruth has become more his carer than his wife’, and has ‘struggled to cope’ with Eamonn’s agonising back pain which ‘may never be 100 per cent right’.
Whatever happened to that marriage vow of loving and cherishing ‘in sickness and in health’? Or, come to think of it, ‘for richer or poorer’.
Because Eamonn has suffered not only from illness in recent times but financial issues too. He was forced to sell his beloved house in his birthplace of Belfast to pay off a crippling £250,000 tax bill after losing a fight with HMRC that racked up thousands of pounds in legal fees as well.
All this on top of grieving the death of his beloved mother in late 2022. What a terrible time for him.
As for Ruth, financially and career-wise she’s at the top of her game. Not just because of her appearances on Loose Women, but also thanks to other TV work and her hit fashion line for larger middle-aged ladies on the television shopping channel QVC.
Last year, according to documents filed by her company Hey Ho Ltd revealed she paid herself £2.2million dividends, up from £85,000 the year before.
One friend of Eamonn said: ‘It could all get very, very tricky. You’re dealing with Eamonn, who didn’t really want to end things, and Ruth, who did.’
What will happen to the £3.2million family home in Surrey we don’t know – presumably the sale money will be split between them. The question of who gets custody of their dog Maggie, which they both adore and who has been a crucial support to Eamonn during his illness, also needs to be addressed.
At least there are no young children involved. Their son Jack is 22. Eamonn’s three children from a previous marriage – Declan, Niall and Rebecca – are well into their thirties.
But I can’t help feeling desperately sorry for Eamonn, and I believe that Ruth should have stuck by him.
It’s no secret that he can be difficult even at the best of times. But she knew that when they got together decades ago in the days when she was a little-known presenter, and he one of ITV’s big stars. Of course, they went on to combine their talents by forming their winning husband-and-wife double act as presenters of This Morning.
He was curmudgeonly but wise, she his giggly sidekick, a bit silly at times, yet the magic worked because many viewers recognised something of their own long marriages in them, one moment adoring, the next bickering.
I’d say he contributed far more star power when they were presenting together than Ruth did. And he’s still Ruth’s draw card, for her unique ‘brand’ seems to involve talking constantly about him on Loose Women. What will she have to gossip about now they’re splitting?
Today, she’s no longer his sidekick – she’s just kicking him in the guts.
Eamonn is crippled with pain after back and shoulder surgery, he is forced to endure hours of gruelling physio each week, and is now reduced to walking with a stick or using a wheelchair
Perhaps the cracks were showing six months ago when, as the Mail revealed today, he said: ‘The problem with Ruth is she cannot separate professional from private life. Ruth is the boss of both.’ Still, he added: ‘She’s marvellous, I love her, I live with her, she’s amazing.’
Of course with such a high-profile divorce, people take sides – not just friends but strangers on social media. Who knows why this long marriage came to such a bitter and unexpected end, and why Ruth felt she had to get out.
One friend said: ‘Women at Ruth’s age realise they only have ten, 20, 30 years max left, and they want to have some fun. They go out, get fit, look amazing and go out to have the time of their lives.’
That seems very selfish to me. And sorry to disenchant her, but there may be a rude awakening if that’s the case for the 64-year-old Ruth. She may find life as a singleton is not all it’s cracked up to be.
Just ask the thousands of bored or disenchanted wives who broke free from dull marriages expecting to find excitement, only to discover a dating pool too small for a tadpole that’s filled with men their age who only want to date younger women or grab themselves a carer!
As to those who believe Ruth and Eamonn separated because ‘their careers went in different directions’, I say: ‘Yes. His went down and hers up.’
Officially the couple say they are ‘determined to stay friends and keep things amicable’. I’d suggest when one person ends a marriage and the other is devastated, there’s not a hope in hell of that happening.
Sorry, Ruth, there’s no escaping the truth. Eamonn’s a grumpy old b****r, but he was your grumpy old b****r for 27 years. And dumping him now when he needs you most is, to put it gently, not a good look.