A Good Marriage Takes Work

Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes talk to Nathalie Whittle about meeting for the first time, their blended family – and what really happens off screen

- Nathalie Whittle

Within minutes of meeting on- and off-screen duo Ruth Langsford, 56, and Eamonn Holmes, 57, it becomes clear that what you see is what you get. “I think that’s why people enjoy watching us,” Ruth tells me. “It’s because we’re real and we bicker like all couples do – and that’s not easy to hide on TV!” The pair present ITV’s This Morning every Friday and during school holidays, as well as Channel 5’s How the Other Half Lives, which returns for a Christmas special and a third series in 2017. Ruth is also a panellist on ITV’s Loose Women. They live in Weybridge, Surrey, with their son, Jack, 14, and their rescue dog, Maggie. Eamonn also has three grown-up children, Declan, Rebecca and Niall, from his first marriage.

ON FIRST IMPRESSIONS…

I was in a very sad place when I was first introduced to Eamonn. I was 35 and had recently come out of a long-term relationship, which left me feeling like I was never going to meet the right man. Most of my friends were in relationships and starting families – and the girlfriends who on Friday nights used to say, “Right, where are we all going, girls?” were having nights in with their partners. Although I’d be invited, who wants to be the single one? I spent a lot of Saturday nights on my own with a bottle of wine.

It was Eamonn’s kindness that attracted me. I was staying with a friend who worked for GMTV and I tagged along to a dinner party she’d been invited to at Mr Motivator’s house. It was all GMTV people talking about work – ordinarily, I’d have found it very awkward sitting outside of this big conversation – but Eamonn kept bringing me into it again and again. He was a real gentleman – and he still is.