Ruth Langsford shares poignant realisation about life ‘on her own’ after Eamonn Holmes split as Loose Women debate takes rare personal turn

Ruth Langsford shared a realisation about life ‘on her own’ after her split from Eamonn Holmes as a debate on Monday’s Loose Women took a rare personal turn.

The 65-year-old returned to our screens for the latest instalment of the ITV show alongside Coleen Nolan, 60, Kelly Brook, 46, and Jane Moore, 63.

The panel got chatting about a number of newsworthy topics throughout the episode, but one discussion saw Ruth – who split from ex Eamonn in May 2024 after 14 years of marriage – open up about life as a single woman.

Anchor Ruth brought up the importance of female friendships and feeling part of a ‘sisterhood’.

Kelly and Jane shared some lovely stories about their close pals, and Ruth shared: ‘I feel the older I get, and of course, I’m on my own now…

‘I think anyway, the older I get, I realise how important my female friendships are.

Ruth Langsford shared a realisation about life ‘on her own’ after her split from Eamonn Holmes as a debate on Loose Women on Monday took a rare personal turn

The panel got chatting about a number of newsworthy topics throughout the episode, but one discussion saw Ruth – who split from ex Eamonn in May 2024 after 14 years of marriage – open up about life as a single woman

The 65-year-old returned to our screens for the latest instalment of the ITV show alongside Coleen Nolan, 60, Kelly Brook, 46, and Jane Moore, 63

‘I think when you’re younger, I’ve got friends from school, my best friend Jenny and I met on our first day at senior school.’

She continued: ‘She lives in Thailand. She was home for a bit and we got together, like you said, we go straight back into “Do you remember that day in double maths?”

‘But also we have been through some very, very difficult times in our lives together.

‘Even though she lives abroad, I just always know that we’ve got each other and my other friends who have got me through so many things.

‘As I’m older I realise you need to really hang onto those friendships and work even harder at them, actually.’

Ruth and TV star Eamonn shocked fans when they announced their separation back in May 2024.

The former coupled tied the knot in 2010 after 13 years together. They share a son together called Jack.

A spokesperson for the couple said at the time: ‘Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes have confirmed their marriage is over and they are in the process of divorcing.’

The former coupled, pictured together in 2018, tied the knot in 2010 after 13 years together, and share a son together called Jack

Eamonn has since moved on with Katie Alexander, 43.

The Loose ladies also spoke about how Jennifer Lopez, 56, and Nikki Glaser, 41, made a cheeky remark about J-Lo’s former relationship with Ben Affleck, 53.

Ruth explained: ‘Lots of people were going “That’s quite nice isn’t it?”

‘Seeing her able to laugh at that whole relationship and the double name and Ben.

‘We wondered how long does it take someone to get over a relationship?’

Kelly joked: ‘They do say to get over someone, you’ve got to get under someone, Ruth, that is the quickest way!’

She then added: ‘I’m joking!’

But Jane and Coleen pointed out very seriously that she was ‘so not joking’.

‘Like Jane said, it’s experience, so maybe as we’ve experienced life, we’ve experienced heartbreak more than once perhaps, we’re older and hopefully wiser,’ Ruth said.

‘That you realise, like you said, you’ve got to look after yourself, and you can’t expect other people to complete you.’

Jane, who was married to Gary Farrow between 2002 and 2022, said: ‘Your greatest relationship in life should be yourself.

‘Know yourself, love yourself and know you’re going to be okay on your own if you have to be. It’s lovely if someone comes along and adds to your life, but certainly, at our age, we’re not building a family anymore.

‘We’re not going to be having babies or building a nest, we would only want somebody in our lives that brings something or enhances it.’

Loose Women airs weekdays from 12:30pm on ITV and ITVX.