MANY fans of Eamonn Holmes could not imagine him with anyone apart from his wife and co-host, Ruth Langsford.
But surprisingly, Eamonn was actually married before he met Ruth. Here’s what we know about his first wife…
Who is Eamonn Holmes’ first wife Gabrielle?
Gabrielle Holmes is the first wife of iconic presenter Eamonn Holmes.
The pair first met in the summer of 1976 and fell in love.
But they split in 1996. Not much is known about Gabrielle apart from details that Eamonn has revealed.
The presenter has said that he and Gabrielle now have an “amicable divorce”.
He has said: “Gabrielle will always be in my life because she’s the mother of three of my children.
“I am convinced now that there will always be a closeness between us, like a brother/sister thing. I will always be there for her and I assume she will always be there for me, and we will both always be there for the kids and they will never feel uneasy, say, sitting around a table with their mom and dad, talking about things.
“We now holiday together, go to the cinema together and all of that is a tribute to Gabrielle and a tribute to me – and, most importantly of all, our children are happy.”
Why did Eamonn and Gabrielle get divorced?
Eamonn split from Gabrielle in 1996, after ten years of marriage.
Eamonn has addressed his divorce from Gabrielle in his book.
He wrote: ‘Gabrielle was increasingly indifferent and I didn’t know why. 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.’
“That was the first time I realised there wasn’t that emotional support there for me, though I probably had suspected it,
“By that stage 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. But it gave my wife a life of her own, with her children, and come weekends I was intruding on it, y’know.”
Eamonn met his now-wife Ruth for the first time in 1997 in his role at GMTV.
They chose to take their relationship slowly to be sensitive to Gabrielle and Eamonn’s kids.
Eamonn and Ruth married in 2010, and they share a named son Jack, who was born in 2002.
Did Eamonn and Gabrielle have any children?
Eamonn shares three children with Gabrielle: Declan, Rebecca and Niall.
The Irish presenter’s son Declan, 32 is expecting his first child with his wife Jenny in July 2021.
Eamonn announced the happy news in April 2021.
He wrote: “Declan is my eldest boy, he’s 32 years of age, and that is Jenny his beloved wife and they have just announced that I – together with Valerie and Robin [Jenny’s parents] and Gabrielle [Declan’s mother] we are all going to be grandparents!”
Eamonn seems to be close to all his kids, but the family have been kept apart due to the Covid pandemic.
In a heartfelt message in May 2020, Eamonn lamented the fact they couldn’t gather as a family.
He wrote: “The Holmes Gang. #wearefamily.
“Miss the bones of this lot. Miss the gatherings, most of all miss the laughter and banter.
“But the priority is that we all stay well. Really Looking forward to our next Zoom night kids. Family = everything… well after @manchesterunited which thankfully also Unites us.”
