Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford's pal pinpoints 'beginning of the end' of marriage

Eamonn Holmes has admitted that he and Ruth had begun to lead separate lives when they were at home and that his wife "liked her own space". Now, their psychologist pal Jo Hemmings, who is also a former colleague, has warned that failing to carve out "quality time" could have been what sparked the end of their marriage.

Eamonn had previously revealed on TalkTV that presenting This Morning together represented a "rare time" when he and Ruth could "actually interrelate". Then he left the show in 2021 amid hurtful claims that he was too "male, pale and stale" for audiences and landed a solo spot on GB News instead, tearing his working relationship with Ruth in two.

Jo reflected this week on how the move - along with Ruth's Loose Women gig - had shaken things up and given the pair very "separate schedules". She revealed: "He’ll be up at the crack of dawn for his morning show, and by the time he gets back he’s likely to be exhausted, while Ruth is starting work later and will likely have been out of the house before her husband returned."

She then warned, in quotes published in The Sun, "It’s often the beginning of the end when quality time isn’t carved out." Jo continued that she sees date nights as "vital" to help couples to keep their connection strong, and pointed out that the pair hadn't been spotted in public together for a long time.

She lamented that their separate schedule times could have meant that even grabbing time together to sit on the sofa and watch TV could have been difficult to achieve. "Without those little moments, it’s not hard for a little tear to turn into a wide gulf very quickly," Jo mused.

"When you’ve started living separate lives, that’s game over for any relationship."

She also pointed to the "curse" of Loose Women, suggesting that spending any period of time intensely discussing other people's relationships might cause a panellist to be equally introspective about their own.

Eamonn's agonising chronic pain issues in recent years - including back surgery - could also have placed a "strain" on their bond.

However, conflicting schedules is an issue that the Belfast-born broadcaster has admitted contributed to his split with first wife Gabrielle too.

In his 2008 memoir, This Is My Life: The Autobiography, Eamonn explained how he struggled with the pair being separated for the majority of the week, as he worked for GMTV in London while she stayed at home in Belfast.

He explained: "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 timeless bearable and longer."

However, he then started to realise that his absences "gave my wife a life of her own, with her children, and come weekends I was intruding on it".

He and Ruth first met two years after his split from Gabrielle, and they enjoyed a 27-year relationship, including 14 years of marriage - but now the pair have called time on their love.