Eamonn Holmes has made a rare comment about a difficult year in which he went through both divorce and a series of health issues.
The 64-year-old broadcaster and his ex-partner Ruth Langsford announced they would be divorcing after 14 years of marriage earlier this year.
The couple first met in 1996, but kept their relationship secret out of respect to Holmes’ ex-wife at the time. Making their relationship public two years later, Holmes and Langsford then got married in 2010. They became a power couple of daytime television and presented shows including ITV staple This Morning.
Following the divorce announcement, the GMB presenter was seen out in a wheelchair, as he revealed he had undergone spinal surgery, a doupbe hip replacement, and suffered severe back pain.
“It’s been a tough year and I’ll be glad to see the back of it,” Holmes told The Sun at The Irish Post awards, which he hosted, on Thursday (7 November).
“But there are lots of things to be grateful for and I hope that my health improves next year.”
Some of the things to be grateful for may include his new partner Katie Alexander, whom he attended the event with. Onlookers said the pair seemed “genuinely besotted with each other”.
Holmes, who needs the support of carers due to his health issues, opened up about the experience earlier this year as he said on GMB: “I have been basically disabled for a year and a half or so and I have to have a carer to do the smallest simplest things and it’s humiliating and humbling – but thank goodness that carers are available.”
Meanwhile, Langsford was forced to share a blunt response to a fan who asked why she was still wearing a wedding ring on an episode in September.
The TV host can be seen wearing her wedding ring in a clip she shared on Instagram, with one person asking in the comments section: “Why has she still got her wedding rings on?”
Langsford bluntly replied: “Because I’m still married.”
In November 2020, the pair were left “furious” after being axed from This Morning in favour of Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary. They had hosted the ITV daytime series’s Friday episode since 2006.
Langsford remained with ITV, and regularly features on Loose Women as a host – but former GM:TV host Holmes moved to GB News, where he hosts a breakfast show.
