Ruth Langsford: ‘I was crying my eyes out’ — ruth langsford on marriage split and counselling
Ruth Langsford has spoken openly about the shock of her 2024 split from Eamonn Holmes and the counselling she sought afterwards. In an interview published 12: 12 GMT 20 Feb 2026, updated 17: 22 GMT 20 Feb 2026, Ruth Langsford, 65, describes the night she removed her platinum wedding ring and the emotional process that followed.
Ruth Langsford on her divorce
Ruth, who was blindsided by the 2024 split from the man who had been her partner for 27 years and her husband for 14, recalls that a year after the split she was still wearing her platinum wedding ring. Occasionally her gang of close girlfriends would ask why and she would reply reflexively that she was still married. One night in May last year the subject came up again and “I realised, ‘Well, I’m not really... I’m not still married. I mean I am, but only on paper. ’”
The night she removed her ring
Her friends urged: “Take your ring off now. Do it with us. ” She did. “I was crying my eyes out because it’s a big thing, isn’t it, ” she says. “It’s one of those moments of acceptance. Wow. That’s it. I’m not married any more. I’m getting divorced. ”
Therapy, tears and acceptance
As she talks, Ruth starts to cry. The tears are described as the proper sort that make her voice, as rich and familiar off screen as it is on camera, catch and thicken. “It’s been almost two years since we announced our separation, but it feels like two months to me, ” she says. She adds carefully, “In my opinion, I had a very happy marriage. ”
Ruth admits she questioned herself — “did I miss something, was I not aware, was I too busy?” — but said there was no point playing the blame game. She says, “I just didn’t think I’d find myself here, and I wasn’t strong at the start. I was broken. Broken heart. Broken dreams. We all have an image of how we think our life and future is going to be. This wasn’t mine. I was devastated. We had gone from being a couple, traversing the usual ups and downs of a marriage, to an abrupt end. It was a huge shock. ”
She describes a period of catastrophising: “I’m going to be on my own, I don’t have a partner, what am I going to do? I was literally asking, ‘What’s going to become of me?’, like some sad, lonely woman in a Jane Austen novel. ” Age and experience, she says, provided perspective: “Ruth, you’re not going to die from this. I mean you are going to die, one day, but you’re not going to die from divorce. ”
Creating happiness and work
That realisation led her to decide, “I knew that I needed to create my own happiness. ” She set about doing exactly that: cracking on with work, mothering her son Jack, now 23, cooking, travelling and gardening. She also sought counselling — the trauma of the marriage split left her needing therapy, and she has opened up about that in the interview.
Feeling Fabulous: the memoir
Ruth wrote her first ever book, Feeling Fabulous, which she describes as part memoir, part manifesto for midlife. The 200-page volume draws on Ruth’s six decades of life, on and off the telly, and is presented as how to feel your best, look your best and do your best. She says she had shunned early invitations to author an early-career autobiography or to put her name to a ghosted novel because she wanted to wait until she had something to say.
The Ruth who leaps from the pages is the woman with the curler in her fringe, the annoying bra that chafes and a fondness for a strong G& T and excellent cake. She writes as a member of the “sandwich generation”, juggling a job with raising a family and caring for parents with dementia.
Loss and other features
The book marks the first time she has spoken about losing her big sister Julia to suicide, and she shares what that tragedy taught her about grief and loss. The interview and exclusive extracts are presented in Weekend magazine and in Saturday’s newspaper edition, where the first of two exclusive extracts from Feeling Fabulous appears. The coverage includes an exclusive two-part guide to managing weight loss, with or without medication, from resident Inspire columnist Dr Max Pemberton and leading weight management expert Dr Courtney Raspin, with practical skills such as “urge surfing” and “emotional regulation” and extracts from their book The Weight Loss Prescription.
Separately, the context notes that Sophie Skelton, who has spent the past decade travelling between centuries in the series Outlander, leads a fashion issue and pays an emotional tribute to her on-screen family as they approach their final season next month; Outlander has been watched by over 30 million viewers.
Publication details and company information
The interview was written by Sarah Oliver for Weekend magazine and carries the timestamps 12: 12 GMT 20 Feb 2026, updated 17: 22 GMT 20 Feb 2026. Associated Newspapers Limited is named with Company No. 084121 and an address at Northcliffe House, 9 Derry Street, Kensington, London, W8 5HY, and a VAT Number of GB 243 5711 74. The coverage is presented as exclusive extracts and promotional copy notes that by continuing readers agree information will be used in line with the publisher’s privacy policy and that registering implies agreement to receive promotional communications unless the box is unticked.
Ruth Langsford’s interview recounts the full sequence of events around the split: a 2024 separation, a year of still wearing a platinum wedding ring, the May night she removed it with friends, the subsequent tears and therapy, her decision to create her own happiness and the publication of Feeling Fabulous, which includes reflections on family, grief and midlife living.
Only in the Saturday print and weekend magazine coverage are the exclusive extracts and guides presented as noted in the print promotion.
Closing: Ruth Langsford’s interview details the personal aftermath of the 2024 split from Eamonn Holmes, the emotional milestones that followed, her therapy and the launch of her 200-page memoir Feeling Fabulous, alongside related magazine features and exclusive guide extracts.
