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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Entertainment
Nadia Breen

Eamonn Holmes on family life, becoming a granddad and his love for Manchester United

Eamonn Holmes has revealed how he didn't think he was ready to be a grandparent.

Speaking on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh, the Belfast man also explained how "very proud" he is of his eldest son Declan.

The broadcaster became a grandfather for the first time back in the summer.

He said: "I am [a grandfather] indeed, my son Declan and his wife Jenny, they had a child in August and she's the most beautiful girl and I didn't think I was sort of ready as I'd never really thought about being a grandparent.

Eamonn with his eldest son Declan, daughter-in-law Jenny and granddaughter Emilia (Eamonn Holmes/Instagram)

"But it melts you."

He added: "I'm really proud of my own son, my eldest boy... he's my baby, and I look at what it's done for him and what a man he is now with his child. There's such a beautiful connection. It just makes me very proud."

Also on the show, Eamonn discussed his new breakfast show on GB news with co-host Isabel Webster which launched back in December.

The Northern Irish presenter said: "Yeah, I have continued that breakfast odyssey really, but I missed it.

"It's a great privilege being able to wake people up with something they didn't know the night before.

"There's just something within me which excites me.

"I was worried about the hours again.. 'Can you actually do that' because getting that alarm clock at 3am, it's not human.

"I do sympathise with anyone who does shift work.

"This time around I thought I was going to be very disciplined, 'I'm not going to watch football, I'm not going to eat late at night, and I'm going to exercise during the day'... but it does play havoc.

"I am now two stone lighter than I was when doing breakfast television five years ago."

Alan Titchmarsh joked how he was impressed that the 62-year-old was "the longest-serving breakfast anchor in the world".

Eamonn responded: "Because no one else would do it.

"People look at so many breakfast presenters through the years... and most of them only did about four or five years."

Titchmarsh also laughed at how Eamonn's "obsession" with Manchester United "never went away".

The broadcaster replied: "Some people play golf, some people bet on horses, some people sit in the pub all day or whatever but for me, football is my escape really.

"Every time I go to a match really, it brings me back to when I was 8 or 9.

"I also think it's a lovely thing in terms of family. There's lots of things you wont have in common with your children... of my four children, three of them are very into football, all my brothers are Manchester United supporters, my neighbours back in Belfast [too]."

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