What colleagues are whispering about Eamonn's absence from GB news...

There has been a notable absentee from the GB News airwaves this week: its star breakfast host Eamonn Holmes. 

The famously workaholic Eamonn, 66, uncharacteristically took a week off, leading to much chatter about the reason for his no-show.

After all, despite his poor health – he suffers from severe back problems and relies on walking aids following a 2022 operation on his spine that went badly wrong – Eamonn is proud of barely missing a day of work, even when his physical pain is almost too much to bear.

I’m told that Eamonn, once the king of daytime television courtesy of his £1million-a-year role as the host of the now defunct ITV breakfast show GMTV, is ‘struggling’ emotionally these days.

And while he has not been happy for some time, his colleagues suspect this week’s absence may have something to do with his ex-wife Ruth Langsford’s tell-all memoir.

Serialised exclusively in the Daily Mail last week, Ruth’s book – rather provocatively titled Feeling Fabulous – told how their split after 14 years of marriage had initially left her ‘blindsided’ and ‘broken’.

Yet, said Ruth, 65, there was a silver lining: she said that she was now beginning to embrace ‘her life’, and considering whether to date again.

I’m told Eamonn was heartbroken to see his ex speak so openly of her hurt.

More than this, I’m also told he was ‘blindsided’ by the book’s contents, as the first he knew of it was when he saw it splashed across this newspaper’s pages. He had, it seems, been given no courtesy preview.

Those close to him say Eamonn has been ‘severely bruised’ by Ruth’s decision to go public – especially as, he says, they had both agreed to keep a dignified silence throughout their increasingly messy separation.

‘Eamonn obviously knew that there was a book coming, but he had no idea what was going to be in it,’ says a source close to the TV star.

‘It was, to be honest, upsetting for him to see it in black and white. He’s an angry man generally, so he must have gone bloody mad when he saw it all.

‘He’s really not in a great place at the moment and Ruth’s book coming out seems to have brought everything to a head all over again.’ His recent time off ‘could be a coincidence’, the source added, ‘but the extra stress and anxiety definitely hasn’t helped’.

I first revealed the pair had split in May 2024 after 27 years together and 14 years of marriage.

A statement issued by the former This Morning presenters announced that they were divorcing after work commitments ‘took their marriage in different directions’.

Their relationship had begun in 1997, some three years after the end of Eamonn’s marriage to his first wife Gabrielle, with whom he has three children, Declan, Rebecca and Niall.

Friends say the couple had been tested by health, financial and professional problems in recent years – and that ‘something had to give’. In particular, Ruth struggled to cope with Eamonn’s back condition following slipped discs and a fall at home in 2022.

The pair, who have a grown up son named Jack, attempted to live together in harmony at their £3.2million home in Weybridge, Surrey, but Eamonn soon moved to a nearby penthouse flat.

He was quickly dating a much younger girlfriend, Katie Alexander, 44, a marriage counsellor whom he met on social media, but friends told me at the time that he was still shocked by the split from Ruth.

One friend said: ‘He thought that Ruth would put up with his c**p for ever. But she had begun to tire of her role as carer and nursemaid to her increasingly immobile and cantankerous husband.

‘But while she is sad about the split, her friends are absolutely relieved.’ In her book, Ruth revealed she has moved forward, with the help of therapy, and now feels the same sense of relief.

She said: ‘I was devastated in the beginning. We had gone from being a couple, traversing the usual ups and downs of a marriage, to an abrupt end. [But] worrying about things... is a waste of energy at exactly the time you need to be firing on all cylinders.’

Today, I’m told Eamonn remains in denial.

When they first split, he refused to confirm it to anyone.

‘To a certain extent he still is [in denial] now,’ said the friend. ‘Even though he’s with Katie.’ Eamonn was once a jolly soul but, as he aged, cheeriness gave way to bitterness.

When he was sacked from This Morning in 2021, he was furious with the network’s bosses. ‘That made it so hard for Ruth who was, and still is, on ITV’s show Loose Women,’ the friend said.

‘He was mouthing off like a bitter old man while Ruth needed to keep working to bring the money in. Ruth struggled with that.’

Today, life isn’t much fun for Eamonn. He and Ruth remain financially entwined by several business interests, and he is battling HMRC over a huge tax bill – of which £250,000 remains outstanding, despite him handing over more than £1million already.

And with the couple’s divorce still to be finalised, his health remains an issue. Problems at work reached a head last year when he fell off his chair live on air on his GB News show.

Subsequent claims of him losing his temper and patience with production staff have become increasingly common.

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He has become isolated from other loved ones, too. His relationships with his children have become fraught after they all sided with Ruth in the divorce.

‘Eamonn’s relationships with his kids are fractured,’ says a source close to him.

‘They can all see things from Ruth’s side, which he finds annoying and disappointing... the boys, especially Niall, have been pretty outspoken – and in his case has just refused to speak to him.’

One bone of contention is Katie. Today, she apparently splits her time between Eamonn’s home and her own in Yorkshire where her two children live with their father.

Because of their significant age gap, many in the industry have been mildly mocking of the couple. There is also a suggestion that Katie is enjoying the perks of dating him – including a lavish Mediterranean cruise they took in the summer of 2024.

One source close to Eamonn said: ‘Everyone thinks it’s weird, but she’s up for the freebies and the attention which comes with dating Eamonn – at least for now.

‘Whether she can tolerate his grumpiness and other issues long term, remains to be seen.

‘Let’s hope she doesn’t read Ruth’s book… it might just give her ideas.’