PODCAST
In the latest episode of HELLO!’s wellbeing podcast In a Good Place, editor at large Rosie Nixon speaks to broadcaster Ruth Langsford about her experiences of the menopause and caring for her ageing parents – and how she coped when her beloved son flew the nest
Presenter Ruth Langsford, 63, has been a regular fixture on our TV screens for over 30 years. An anchor on ITV’s Loose Women, she is also the longest-serving host of This Morning – one of a number of shows she has co-presented with fellow broadcaster Eamonn Holmes, whom she married in 2010 in a star-studded ceremony exclusively featured in HELLO!.
The couple have a son, Jack, 21 (together right in 2018).
Ruth’s busy schedule includes designing a clothing line for QVC, and she’s an ambassador for Alzheimer’s Society. She starred in Strictly Come Dancing, paired with her friend Anton Du Beke, in 2017.
Ruth, are you in a good place? “I’m in a pretty good place. I’m 63 and it’s an interesting time. My late father had Alzheimer’s and my mum has dementia, so that brings into focus your own health, but also celebrating being in your 60s. And I never thought I’d still be on TV in my 60s, that’s for sure.”
Are you in tune with your feelings? “I don’t think too deeply about things; I’m a just-get-on-with-it person. My sister and I went to boarding school when we were young and that gives you a pullyour-socks-up attitude. My parents were very much ‘crack on with it’.
“Eamonn laughs at me; he says that’s my expression. He goes:
‘Come on, crack on.’ I never realised I did that until he pointed it out. So I think that’s my way of dealing with things.”
[The family’s dog Maggie interrupts] Gorgeous Maggie! I see you going for your walks with her…
“Jack wanted a dog and I put it off for so long, but it’s the best thing we ever did. I often take her to see my mum Joan, who’s 91 and in assisted living. So many of the residents ask to stroke Maggie and I can see the joy she brings.”
You still work so hard – do you ever think about retiring?
“I’m not a workaholic, but I love what I do and I’m healthy enough to keep working. I find Janet Street Porter extraordinary – she does Loose Women, she writes columns, she travels, she’s full of ideas. So I look at people like her and think: ‘There’s life in the old dog yet.�
