After spending almost three decades together, TV veterans Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes announced that it was all over last week.
And now insiders say TV star Holly Willoughby – who closely worked with the former couple while at This Morning – has thrown her support behind Ruth.
Holly, 43, and her former co-star Phillip Schofield, 62, hosted the show Monday to Thursday – before they both quit last year – while Ruth and Eamonn, both 64, took the helm on Fridays before leaving in 2021.
And sources tell Closer that Holly – who is currently filming Netflix show Bear Hunt in Costa Rica – is keen to get in touch with Ruth following the shock news upon her return.
The source says, “Holly really feels for Ruth at the moment. Even though it seems the divorce was her choice, she knows she’s going to feel the fallout of it. While they haven’t been super close – largely due to tension with Eamonn and Phil in the past – they’ve always had huge respect for each other as they know how hard this job can be and they have always got on.
“She now wants to reach out and speak up, so she wants to meet up with Ruth when she’s back from filming and just have a fun lunch out together and show that there are no hard feelings.”
Ruth and Eamonn were once one of the nation’s most iconic TV couples, co-hosting ITV quiz show Gift Wrapped, documentary series How The Other Half Lives and TV show Do The Right Thing over the years, as well as This Morning.
But the couple famously had tension with Phillip. A clip of Ruth looking annoyed after being cut off by him live on air went viral, and Eamonn spoke out and called him “toxic” when Phillip’s affair with a younger male colleague was exposed last May. He also called Holly “false” and speaking of them both said, “I could give you a list of the lack of kindness and lack of awareness from both of them.”
But the insider says that now Eamonn is out of the picture, Holly wants to reach out to support Ruth.
The source says, “Ruth and Holly haven’t always seen eye-to-eye in the past, but that was primarily due to Phil and Eamonn clashing and both women felt they had to stay loyal to their side. It was very awkward between them for a while because of Eamonn’s feelings towards Phil, but now both those partnerships are over and Holly is all for strong women.
“Now she’s no longer on This Morning and away from Phil, she can see things more clearly from both sides and she also knows it must have been hard for Ruth to stand by Eamonn when he was so opinionated about a lot of people.”
While Holly and Phillip were formerly co-hosts and best pals off screen, their partnership came to an end in the lead up to his departure from This Morning and while Holly returned to Dancing On Ice without him in January, Phillip has since disappeared from the spotlight.
But he was recently pictured out having dinner with TV star Declan Donnelly and reports have claimed a TV tell-all or book from Phil may be in the works.
