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Posing in his NHS robe, struggling to crack a smile, Eamonn Holmes vowed to fans that he would return to their screens following his devastating stroke.
‘I can’t wait to be out of this gown and back in a suit and tie,’ he said. ‘Watch this space, I’ll be back after this break.’
The snap, which was shared in June and shows his girlfriend Katie Alexander beside him, is the last time he was seen.
Friends of Eamonn say he meant every word of his promise, which he made two months after he was taken ill and that he was determined to get back to his presenting chair at the West London HQ of GB News, where he has anchored their breakfast show since January 2022.
Love of the job aside, the show has also been a financial lifeline following the double blow of a costly tax battle with HMRC over his employment status and an expensive divorce from fellow presenter wife Ruth Langsford. In 2020, the veteran broadcaster was left with a bill of £250,000 after losing a protracted IR35 case when a judge dismissed Holmes’ claims that he was a freelance presenter, ruling that his contract with ITV’s This Morning amounted to employment. He was also left with legal fees running to hundreds of thousands.
More recently, he’s also been faced with a bitter divorce – he and Ruth, who split in 2024 after 14 years of marriage, are still wrangling over their £3million family home and an estimated combined fortune of £5million.
And now, six months after he last appeared on the network, I can reveal Eamonn won’t be returning to GB News. While friends say his return to full health is taking longer than expected, those close to him are resigned to the fact that his career is now over.
Executives at GB News are planning for the future without him, having held multiple behind-the-scenes meetings to plan a respectful handover in a bid not to insult their long-serving star. Sources there tell me Eamonn’s future was discussed at length and it has been concluded by chiefs at the broadcaster that it would be impossible for him to make a return.
Eamonn Holmes posted this picture with girlfriend Katie Alexander from his hospital bed
The mood, say my sources, was one of sadness as many bosses had not only grown fond of Eamonn but recognised his popularity when it came to ratings.
Insiders say they are working out an appropriate exit strategy.
A source close to Eamonn, 66, said: ‘Nobody has wanted to really admit it but he isn’t going to be back on screen. It’s a very sad way for such an illustrious career to end.
‘Eamonn is a very proud man and his family are just as proud of him. There was every hope he could make a full recovery and get back to doing what he loves but it hasn’t worked out that way.
‘He has spent six months laid up after the stroke. That isn’t him. He’s always been such a get up and go kind of person so it’s been devastating for him. He loves work. He thrives on it and needs to keep working.
‘But if you are GB News, it is perhaps understandable that they have to move on and everyone involved is accepting that. It surely isn’t how Eamonn envisaged bowing out of his amazing career but if anyone deserves a rest and the chance to have a relaxing retirement, it’s him.’
Not everyone at GB News, however, is believed to be mourning his departure. Co-hosts Ellie Costello and Stephen Dixon, who have covered much of Eamonn’s absence, are thought to be pleased with the fresh start. ‘Stephen has made no secret of wanting Eamonn’s job full time,’ says my source at the network.
‘He might finally get his wish. He has stood in and done a great job in the eyes of the viewers and the bosses. But he’s no Eamonn.
‘As for Ellie, presenting alongside Eamonn had become a harder job than she thought, as he struggled with his health.’
Holmes's health had become a talking point at the station even before his stroke
With GB News co-host Ellie Costello, who is said to be pleased at the fresh start afforded by his absence
Both are thought to be in the running for the jobs permanently. Other sources at GB News say there’s been huge disappointment at the way Eamonn’s profile waned so quickly – despite the fanfare that accompanied his arrival in 2022.
He was signed in a huge money deal after he was axed by ITV from hosting their daytime show alongside former wife Ruth. Bitter and angry at his sacking, he threw himself into his new job where he was reunited alongside Isabel Webster, his sidekick from his years hosting Sky News’ breakfast show, Sunrise.
Bosses were thrilled with his viewing figures and proudly announced that the show was giving his enemies at ITV a run for their money.
He and his new ‘TV wife’ Isabel were also described as offering what Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid had previously done on Good Morning Britain. Eamonn, by then 62, was relieved to continue in lucrative employment. But in December 2024, Isabel abruptly left her role, which was rumoured to be linked to a falling-out with Eamonn.
Since then, it’s fair to say, the downhill trajectory for the father-of-four has gathered pace.
Two months after his co-host’s departure, Eamonn fell off his chair live on television while interviewing commentator Charlie Rowley.
A loud crash was heard off-camera at around 6.15am, leaving his new sidekicks Ellie and Charlie appearing panicked before cutting to an ad break. Eamonn returned after the break, joking: ‘I’m alive.’
Rather than admit the fall was related to any physical issues of his own, he blamed ‘wonky wheels’ on the studio chair.
Holmes shared this update on social media after his stroke
Stephen Dixon, who has shared hosting duties with Ms Costello, is also said to be after Holmes' job
A month earlier he’d appeared to fall asleep while presenting the breakfast show – although he denied the incident, insisting: ‘I was just looking down at my mic pack to see why it was not working, as we don’t have floor managers or camera operators. Apparently I was sleeping? Whatever!’
There were other instances of difficulties which Eamonn also endured which are impossible to print.
Understandably, the issues prompted whispers about his capacity to continue with his on-air role – as well as frustrations from co-stars who felt they were ‘carrying’ him.
‘Even before Eamonn’s stroke there were question marks over whether he could continue in the same way as before,’ says a source.
‘There were occasions where his speech was slurred and people have been worried about whether he was fully up to the demands of the job – but the stroke put everything on hold. Now there are conversations about how the show looks in the future and, of course, the staff still working day to day would like some clarity about their own career paths. Nobody wants to be disrespectful to Eamonn and his health situation has made it difficult to address the elephant in the room.’
While he became increasingly cantankerous as he endured health battles that have included a double hip replacement, slipped discs and several spinal surgeries after a series of falls, Eamonn was once the undisputed king of the sofa and Britain’s most watched man. His big break in broadcasting came in January 1993, when he joined GMTV, hosting alongside Anthea Turner – whom he referred to as Princess Tippy Toes – after a monumental fall-out.
After she was ousted, Eamonn presented alongside the much-loved Fiona Phillips with whom he announced the devastating death of Princess Diana in August 1997. He left in 2005 when he defected to Sky. And despite going on to be seen as half of television’s most relatable couple with wife Ruth, with whom he shared the ITV This Morning sofa for 15 years, their bitter split has left its mark.
While Ruth is currently residing in the marital home in Weybridge, Surrey, Eamonn has moved out to a penthouse flat five miles away in Kingston upon Thames.
Wheelchair-bound, he has found new love with relationship counsellor Katie Alexander, 44, a mother of three.
Meanwhile, friends of Eamonn and Ruth say their ‘love has turned to absolute hatred’.
Ruth, who is currently a presenter on the ITV chat show Loose Women, has since written in her autobiography of how the divorce left her ‘broken’.
She also pointedly directed a series of allegations at her husband, including that he exchanged messages and gifts with another unnamed person – later believed to be Katie. Two remedy hearings have already failed and in November they are set to come face to face in a Brighton divorce court, where a judge will decide which party gets what. One source described relations as ‘a huge mess’ with neither side prepared to give in.
‘Love has turned to absolute hatred’ for Eamonn and Ruth, according to their friends
The case is now listed as Ruth Holmes vs Eamonn Holmes. Documents lodged at Brighton family court list Ruth as the applicant and Eamonn as the respondent.
Eamonn, I’m told, is desperate to ensure that he gets the best deal possible for himself as he looks to a future without a guaranteed income. To this end he has hired Deborah Bangay, the lawyer who in 2004 won a landmark court case for Karen Parlour, wife of former Arsenal footballer Ray Parlour, whom the judge ruled must pay his wife more than a third of his future income.
‘Eamonn was working so hard because he needed the money,’ says a source who knows him.
‘For much of his time at GB News he was struggling. Should he have been working? Maybe not but he needed the cash.
‘Now he will need to make sure he gets a decent settlement with Ruth more than ever.’
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