Ruth Langsford shares devastating health fears after Eamonn Holmes split

TV presenter Ruth Langsford has said she is afraid of developing Alzheimer’s disease after seeing both her parents develop the condition.

Ruth, 64, said she’d lost her father to the disease and was now seeing her mother experiencing symptoms of the as-yet incurable condition.

Speaking to Woman & Home, Ruth talked about how whilst she doesn’t fear ageing, she does fear the health problems that come with it including the potential onset of Alzheimer’s.

She said: “I lost my darling dad, Dennis, to Alzheimer’s, and now, sadly, my mum, 93-year-old Joan, has the disease. Every time I forget something, instead of thinking it’s a senior moment, I think ‘Oh my God. Is this the start of Alzheimer’s?’

“I don’t fear getting older. I embrace my age and I never lie about it. I’m 64 and I’m very happy to be 64.

“I only worry about age in respect to my health. I think old age is wonderful, and I see many very active, interesting and brilliant older people and I hope that will be me.”

Ruth’s comments come a few months after she and Eammon Holmes announced they were splitting after 14 years of marriage. Earlier this year, Ruth made a cheeky swipe at GB News presenter Eamonn when she told the audience she was “throwing a lot of stuff out at the minute”.

Among the things thrown out was Eamonn’s stair lift, something that the Mirror reported caused a small amount of hilarity from Ruth’s friends. One source told the Daily Mail: “Ruth doesn't need it.

“She's super-fit and healthy but she knew Eamonn probably would struggle when he had to go the house to get some bits he needed for the holiday. The bedrooms are upstairs and he needed to get to them. It might seem petty but Ruth's friends think it is absolutely hilarious as they think he has really taken her for a ride.”

Whilst Ruth may be healthy, her admission of a fear of developing Alzheimer’s comes days after it was announced that the NHS would not fund a new drug that can slow the development of Alzheimer’s.

Although the drug – known as donanemab - was found to hold back the deadly condition, its impact was not deemed to be worth the cost. Director of medicines evaluation at NICE Helen Knight said: “For NICE to be able to approve a medicine for use in the NHS it must provide additional benefits to patients, and it must also represent a good use of NHS resources and taxpayers’ money.

“The cost-effectiveness estimate for donanemab is five to six times above what NICE normally considers an acceptable use of NHS resources.”

Chief executive at Alzheimer’s Research UK Hilary Evans-Newton remarked that the announcement marked “another frustrating setback for people affected by Alzheimer’s disease”.