Eamonn Holmes' relationship with first wife Gabrielle and the reason for their split

Eamonn Holmes lost his first wife after he spent increasing amounts of time in London, while tensions rose with second wife Ruth Langsford over him yearning to be back in his home city of Belfast. It seems as though geographical issues have loomed large for the GB News broadcaster in both of his marriages.

Eamonn welcomed three children with Gabrielle after marrying her in 1985 - Declan, now 35, Rebecca, 33, and Niall, 31 - but the pair parted ways 10 years later. He later admitted that the relationship was put under enormous strain by him being separated from her for the majority of the week, as he worked for GMTV in London and only returned to the family home in Belfast on weekends.

He addressed the issue in his 2008 memoir This Is My Life: The Autobiography, explaining: "'We tended to be apart during the week because of my job, and I had no trouble with that - though Gabrielle obviously did. I always believed absence would make the heart grow fonder and, in fact, the commuting heightened my desperation for her, made the time less bearable and longer."

However, he added that his absences "gave my wife a life of her own, with her children, and come weekends I was intruding on it". Then, in 1991, his father died and Eamonn descended into a spiral of grief.

He found himself wishing he was closer with his wife so he could share the struggle, but by that point in their marriage, distance had crept in. "Gabrielle was increasingly indifferent and I didn't know why," he wrote.

"I needed her close, I needed her to reach me and ease my pain, but she had concerns of her own, principal of which was an impending birth."

Following their split, Eamonn was introduced to Ruth by a GMTV colleague and sparks flew - but as the years passed, they found themselves mainly interacting with each other through their work together.

After Eamonn left ITV's This Morning in 2021, spelling an end to his hugely popular co-hosting stint with Ruth, the pair started to grow apart.

In an interview with TalkTV at the time, Eamonn explained: "Although we live together, we're not really together... Ruth likes her own space [and] when we do This Morning it's a rare time we actually interrelate."

That tendency to like her alone time is a trait she seems to share with his previous wife Gabrielle - and then there were Eamonn's pinings for home.

He reportedly wanted to return to Belfast, whereas Ruth is thought to have been unkeen to leave London and Surrey.

Eamonn addressed the "irritation" the matter caused his wife in an interview last year, explaining: "When people ask me what I'm doing at the weekend, I tell them I'm going home."

He added in quotes published in The Sun: "My wife gets very irritated by this. She says, 'This is your home' and I say, 'No Ruth, this is where I work. This is where I have to be, but home [is Belfast]."