Daytime TV power couple Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford have revealed the emotional reason why they are planning to spend this coming Christmas apart.
Both presenters have elderly mothers who they are planning to spend the holidays with.
They explained that there would be a “a sea dividing us” this festive season, which is a dilemma that is facing many of us given the fact that Covid restrictions kept many families apart last year.
As 61 year old Eamonn explained to Woman and Home magazine: "We often have a dilemma of whether I go to Belfast, whether Ruth comes with me. But Ruth wants to be with her mum. My mother is 93 this year. It’s easier for us often to be apart.”
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Ruth, also 61, added: “Being apart for Christmas has never been a problem. I wouldn’t be going to Belfast this year, because I need to be with my mum. It’s about family for me.”
Ruth’s mother Joan lives in a care home, which meant that it was particularly difficult for her to visit her last year during the pandemic.
But the couple are still sure to be celebrating the season together in some capacity.
As Ruth explained, they are both big fans of Christmas: “I start Christmas early. I’m that person that when someone says, ‘Have you seen? It’s ridiculous – such-and-such supermarket has already got their Christmas things in, and it’s only July,’ I go, ‘Oh, have they? Which branch? Eamonn has regressed into childhood.
"The older he gets, the more he goes back into his childhood at Christmas.”
The couple periodically present This Morning together – often during holiday periods – and Ruth is credited as the show's longest serving presenter.
They have also appeared on programmes together including Celebrity Gogglebox and Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow.
Ruth is also a regular panellist on Loose Women. Eamonn has presented programmes including GMTV and Sky Sunrise.
The couple have been together for 25 years but their marriage was not particularly common knowledge, with many viewers and fans expressing surprise when, during the pandemic, the pair were obviously able to sit close to one another.
They first met in 1997 when they were introduced by their mutual friend and fellow TV presenter Sally Meen.
They were married in July 2010 at The Elvetham Hotel in Hampshire. Together they have one son named Jack, who was born in February 2002.
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In the initial years of their relationship they kept it a secret, out of respect for Eamonn’s previous wife Gabrielle Holmes, who he had only separated from two years before they got together.
Ruth told the Daily Mail in 2017 how this made her admire his integrity.
She said: "I thought it spoke volumes about the sort of man he was, the sort of father he was and the integrity he had. It made me love him more, not less."
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