Anthea Turner, 61, has revealed how her GMTV co-star Eamonn Holmes, 61, went through a “difficult time” with his ex-wife Gabrielle Holmes, as their marriage fell apart in 1996. The TV personality admitted she found it “hard to understand” what he was going through at the time and ultimately it lead to their behind-scenes “tiff”.
Opening up on what prompted their friendship to break down, Anthea said: “If anybody was going to have a bit of a tiff, it was Eamonn and I.
“He was going through a difficult time and it was hard for me to understand. I wasn’t as worldly-wise, I didn’t have children.
“His real-life marriage was crumbling, he was living two lives, being torn away from the kids in Ireland all week. He was unhappy. And who’s sitting next to him every morning?”
In 1985, Holmes married his first wife, Gabrielle with whom he has three children, Declan, Rebecca and Niall. They separated in 1994, due to Eamonn’s father’s death and his journalism career taking a toll on their marriage.
The same year, Eamonn began dating Ruth Langsford and in 2002, she gave birth to their son, Jack Alexander Holmes. Eamonn and Gabrielle eventually divorced in 2005.
READ MORE: Prince Harry’s appearance on Time cover questioned by Carol Vorderman
After her long relationship with one-time DJ co-worker Bruno Brookes, she married her manager, former DJ Peter Powell in 1990; the couple divorced in 1998. The year of her divorce from Powell, Anthea moved in with the CEO of Imagine Homes, Grant Bovey. The couple married on 23 August 2000.
The TV star and Bovey split up in 2012, after an initial reconciliation, they separated again in August 2013, this time permanently and they divorced in October 2015.
Eamonn and Anthea were thrust together to host GMTV in 1994 – but it was far from a match made in heaven.
The pairing triggered an 11-year feud that saw the This Morning host accuse his co-star of being vain and brand her “Princess Tippy Toes” in a sensational interview before she famously quit the show 24 years ago amid a storm of “hurt”.
DONT MISS:
Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield fumes at fans taking pictures of him (PHOTOS)
Jeremy Clarkson fumes at ‘sad’ M25 climate change protesters (NEWS)
Adele, 33, debuts new romance with boyfriend Rich Paul, 39 (LATEST)
“I was gutted. What he did hurt me terribly. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t,” she told The Mirror soon after the animosity boiled over.
“I never was and never wanted to be a rival to Eamonn.
“Maybe he didn’t understand that. He is an excellent journalist and he is well respected for that. I was never any threat to him.”
On her last day, Eamonn was seen stomping off set as she was toasted with champagne, and Anthea admitted he wasn’t included on the invite list to her glitzy leaving bash at the Belvedere restaurant in Holland Park.
She continued: “The whole thing was arranged by GMTV’s director of programmes, Peter McHugh. He was responsible for who came and who didn’t.
“And obviously Eamonn wasn’t invited.”
However, contrary to rumours, she insisted that Eamonn didn’t force her out.
“It was never a case of him saying ‘It’s her or me.’ That just didn’t happen,” she explained.
“I would have left GMTV at the point I did – with or without any silliness from Eamonn.
“It was the right time for me,” she finished.
