Life for Ruth Langsford is looking bright and positive in 2026. Her best-selling book was released in February, Loose Women work continues on ITV and her own clothes range is amongst the products which regularly sell out on QVC.
In fact she is so busy when we speak, we avoid using video on the call as her hair is in rollers and her fake tan has just been applied, ready for her to be on screen again imminently for a fashion slot.
“Yeah, it’s been going very well so far,” she says, reflecting on the year and a new stage of life. “I mean, the highlight for me has been my book, Feeling Fabulous, which has just stunned me, the kind of reaction I’ve had to that. I did a book tour, and it was so nice to meet women who had read it or wanted to read it. People opened up to me and said ‘this has happened to me’ and we had big hugs. Obviously, I’ve got all my other work too which I love, so I am very lucky.”
View 5 ImagesRuth attends the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026.
It is great to hear Ruth speaking so positively and upbeat as other recent interviews have highlighted how tough things have been for the much-loved presenter. She has faced setbacks in life before, but Ruth has arguably made it through the toughest two years of her life.
It was at the end of May in 2024 that she and Eamonn Holmes, one of TV’s golden couples, announced they were splitting up after 14 years of marriage. Since then, Ruth has seen Eamonn begin a new relationship and was regularly taking her to events in public just months after his marriage ended.
Asked how she feels two years on from their split, Ruth says: “I’ve always been a very independent woman, that hasn’t really changed. But this is where I found myself, and I just have to get on with my life and make my own happiness and keep my career going, and look out for my son, that’s what I’m doing.
“You know, life changes, life can change from one second to the next, one hour to the next, one day to the next, nobody knows what’s going to happen in their life, but here I am, and I’m doing all right. They say time is a great healer, and that always sounds like a bit of a cliche, but I really believe it is.”
Back in November, appearing on the cover or Woman&Home magazine Ruth had spoken of seeing “darkness” and being concerned in 2025 about what was going to happen next. She then quoted Gloria Gaynor and vowed “Do you crumble? Do you lay down and die? Oh no, not I. I will survive.”
Reminded of that interview and those defiant comments, 66-year-old Ruth says: “That’s all we can do, isn’t?. You put your best foot forward, as my dad would say, and you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and on you go, and that’s all I can do. I’m very grateful that I have good things in my life, you know, I love my work, as I’ve said, I’ve got great friends, I’ve got a wonderful son, I’ve got a gorgeous little doggy, and I just get on with my life and find my happiness.”
View 5 ImagesRuth and Eamonn were together for a total of 27 years, including host This Morning together(Image: ITV)
Ruth’s best-selling book, Feeling Fabulous was honest about a number of topics including her sister Julia’s death to suicide, her mum’s Alzheimer’s and even her use of a therapist to help with the marriage break up. The latter of these is something Ruth thinks was very important for her in that period to help move on and she was asked about this chapter a lot at her book signings.
I was not surprised to learn that the affable TV host got on so well with her therapist that she went along to one of Ruth’s recent talks, anonymously of course.
“It was absolutely the best thing I did for me, just to be able to talk to somebody who is completely independent of the situation,” she says of the therapy sessions.
“My therapist said to me, ‘Just find your light, it’s there. I know this feels very dark at the moment, but the light is there’. So I just kept that in my mind, find your light, because it’s there, you’ll get there. It’s never easy, you know? None of these things are easy. But I found my light, so I feel like I’ve come out through the worst of it really now.”
Ruth is even remaining positive about the time she gets to spend with her beloved mum Joan, who like her late father Dennis, sadly now has Alzheimer’s disease. Ruth explains: “I’ve talked honestly a lot about Alzheimer’s and I’m an ambassador to the Alzheimer’s Society. My dad had Alzheimer’s. My mum now has it, but I’ve learned so much because of the mistakes I made with my dad, because we didn’t know much about Alzheimer’s then. We’d all been left to own devices, really.
“But I’m so much better at it with my mum. It’s much nicer because when she says something like, “Oh, I drove the bus today, took all the residents down on the bus to Brighton’. Instead of going ‘I know you didn’t Mum, because you can’t drive?’, I go, ‘Oh, how lovely, did you have a nice time?’. And that’s it. And it’s so much easier, and I wish somebody told me that, because it’s like living that moment, stepping into her world.
“I’m very lucky to still have her, and she’s still full of fun my mum, she likes to laugh. Obviously she can’t remember what she had for her breakfast, but she knows me. She still knows me fortunately, and she loves my dog, she loves to see Maggie.
“I always take Maggie to see her. It’s harder for me to get her out now, because she’s a bit unsteady on her legs, but when the weather’s nicer, I bring mum here because she likes to sit in my garden. She’s in a care home, but she’s literally around the corner from me, I can see the rooftop where I’m sitting now, so I know she’s close by.”
5View 5 ImagesRuth with fish and chips she made at home
5View 5 ImagesRuth with bestselling book(Image: Instagram/ @ruthlangsford)
Ruth is speaking to the Mirror to celebrate National Fish & Chip Day today(Friday) after joining forces with Young’s Seafood. She says one of her early memories is her beloved mum cooking chips in an old style chip pan, which we both agree seem lethal now, looking back. Ruth also recalls eating fish out of newspaper at the seaside with her grandparents, and misses the traditional newspaper wrapping.
These days Ruth is a fan of grilled fish generally and aims to make it a part of her weekly routine for the health benefits, with an occasional chippy tea with battered fish as a treat with a good helping of salt and vinegar and tartare sauce, At home she has been known to knock up a fish and chip supper in her air fryer and also is often tempted by the chippy outside the Loose Women studios in London.
“If you’ve seen me with curry sauce with fish and chips, it probably means I’ve had a few drinks,” she says with a laugh. Keeping to the food theme, there is just time to ask if after two years, dating might be back on the menu soon for her. She sounds cautiously optimistic. Ruth says: “As I’ve said before, never say never. I’m not looking at the moment. I’m getting used to my single life. I’ve got lots of work, I’ve got lots on, but I go forward with an open mind and an open heart.”
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* Ruth has partnered with Young’s Chip Shop Range to encourage the nation to enjoy Britain’s favourite dish, whether that’s from your local chippy, or at home, and share simple ways to make fish part of everyday mealtimes.
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