It was the picture of fatherly affection – the Instagram post in which proud patriarch Eamonn Holmes paid tribute to his four children.
‘This is my four. Niall, Jack, Rebecca and Declan,’ wrote the television presenter, alongside the black and white photograph. ‘Proud to have them as my children and I can only hope I make them proud to have me as their dad. #FathersDay,’ he added.
Four years on and, sadly, things now don’t look quite so cosy for the Holmes brood. There’s been much water under the bridge since that picture – most notably, the complete collapse of relations between the GB News anchor and two of his sons.
For I can reveal that Eamonn, 65, has had a terrible fall-out with Niall, the youngest of his three children with first wife Gabrielle. And more devastatingly, Niall has sided with his stepmother Ruth Langsford over his own father, following the couple’s split.
Ruth and Eamonn announced a year ago that they were to part after 27 years as a couple, and 14 years of marriage, and now it seems this most toxic of divorces is set to get far worse. As one source told me: ‘It’s fair to say that things between Eamonn and Ruth are at the pretty ugly stage now.’
Before they went their separate ways, Niall, 32, worked for the couple brokering deals for endorsements or personal appearances.
Those who know Eamonn say he and his son had a ‘blazing row’ and are yet to make up.
One source tells me: ‘Niall and Eamonn had a massive fall-out, there was a huge row following his split from Ruth. Things were said between them that cannot be unsaid. It must be heartbreaking for Eamonn.
Eamonn, 65, has had a terrible fall-out with Niall (far left), the youngest of his three children with first wife Gabrielle. And more devastatingly, Niall has sided with his stepmother Ruth Langsford over his own father, following the couple’s split
‘Eamonn accused him of siding with Ruth while Niall hit back about his dad’s behaviour. This all happened more than a year ago and they haven’t spoken since. Niall adores Ruth.
‘It was all very tricky at the beginning of the split. Lots of things were said behind closed doors so Niall knows what really happened, things which are not in the public domain, and he has made a call. Eamonn is, of course, upset and is sharing news of the fall-out with his friends now.
‘He’s still close to his eldest son Declan – who has two little girls, Emilia and Isabella – and daughter Rebecca, but they have been caught in the cross-fire of his falling out with Niall. The feud doesn’t look like it will resolve itself anytime soon.’
It’s also understood that Jack, 23, the son he and Ruth have together, has sided with his mother. Before announcing the split, Ruth set Jack up in a flat in Salford. A source said: ‘Things remain strained between him and his father.’
Other sources say relations are unlikely to thaw while Eamonn’s new girlfriend Katie Alexander is around. It’s thought some of Eamonn’s family take a dim view of his romance with the marriage counsellor, 22 years his junior.
It has been reported Eamonn and Katie, 43, were first in touch 12 years ago, when it’s claimed they exchanged flirty messages. It’s suggested that, in the year before their split, Ruth learned Eamonn had been showering Katie with gifts. But both Eamonn and Katie, who was also married, insist nothing went on until both their marriages ended. The fact they are still together is said to have ‘gone down like a lead balloon’ with Eamonn’s family.
But Katie is said to be one of the only people who can make Eamonn smile of late. His health remains concerning – and he’s still said to be bitter about how he was sacked from ITV, where he was a co-presenter of This Morning, along with Ruth. Both issues contributed to his marriage breakdown: his debilitating back condition made him difficult to live with, and an operation in 2022 left him incapacitated for a time. He’s also said to have embarrassed Ruth, 65, when he lambasted ITV bosses for sacking him while she was still working on the channel’s Loose Women.
Then came the announcement of their split, which was put out as a ‘joint statement’, but in fact left Eamonn furious, as he was said to have wanted nothing to do with it. Ruth has been praised for her dignity but has had moments of quiet revenge. For example, although she declined to comment, sources confirmed she removed the stairlift installed at their former marital home, a £3.6 million mansion in Weybridge, Surrey, to help Eamonn get upstairs.
Ruth and Eamonn in 2022. Ruth and Eamonn announced a year ago that they were to part after 27 years as a couple, and 14 years of marriage, and now it seems this most toxic of divorces is set to get far worse
When he next visited to fetch belongings for a trip around Europe with Katie, Ruth made herself scarce – but knew he’d struggle with the staircase.
Eamonn and Katie were later pictured in Barcelona, where they boarded a cruise ship to tour the Mediterranean before stopping off at Ibiza. Since then, there’s been no love lost between the former couple: Ruth has stayed at the family home while Eamonn moved to a flat in Kingston, Surrey.
Ruth is recently understood to have been granted a severance of joint tenancy on their six-bedroom property, meaning Eamonn would no longer have a claim on her share of the home, which the couple bought together in 2014.
‘It’s all a nightmare,’ said one source. ‘And these things have an effect on family relations, especially when it comes to Eamonn and his youngest sons. They don’t like to see Ruth upset.’
The perception Eamonn has hurt Ruth also hasn’t done him any favours with the public.
Once a ‘guaranteed seller’ when magazines put him on the cover, his stock has certainly fallen since. Sacked by ITV in November 2021, a war of words between him and his former bosses swiftly broke out. Eamonn accused them of being ‘sly’ over his exit and ‘hypocritical’ about ITV’s diversity drive.
In turn, the channel insisted that its research showed he was unpopular with viewers, which led to him and Ruth being replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary.
Eamonn joined GB News in 2022, where he’s understood to earn a much bigger salary than his fellow hosts on the breakfast show. But it’s not all been plain sailing: In April, Eamonn fell off his chair during an interview.
And weeks before that, he went missing 40 minutes before the end of the show.
Some question why he still does the gruelling early morning job.
But his friends say Eamonn does ‘really need the money’ due to a long-running battle he has had with HMRC – and last year he had to sell his Belfast home.
‘It’s not the easiest to be Eamonn Holmes right now,’ said a friend of his. ‘But he is just so happy to have Katie in his life.’
It’s sad, then, that romance appears to have come at some significant cost to Eamonn – in more ways than one.
