Eamonn Holmes questions need to get married on GB News show after split from Ruth Langsford

The Belfast broadcaster made the comments on his GB News breakfast show on Monday as the panel was discussing media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s latest marriage at the age of 93.

Last month, Mr Holmes and Ms Langsford announced they would be getting a divorce after 14 years of marriage.

During the GB News debate on Mr Murdoch, Mr Holmes was shut down by his co-presenter Isabel Webster when he asked: “Did he consummate the marriage?”

“Stop it,” she said. “We don’t need to do this.”

The duo invited Christopher Biggins and Dawn Neesom into the studio to chat about the latest headlines, including Mr Murdoch’s marriage, when Mr Holmes asked: “Why would you need to get married?”

Mr Murdoch married 67-year-old Elena Zhukov – his fifth wife – at a lavish ceremony in his California vineyard during the weekend.

“The question is, Biggins, why at 93 would you bother?” Mr Holmes asked the television presenter.

“Is he very lonely perhaps?” Mr Biggins replied. “Does he have no friends? Does he not have anybody in his life… you know?”

“Why would you need to get married?” Mr Holmes continued. “I mean you could live with somebody, couldn’t you?”

“I know,” the guest agreed before adding: “And his history is he’s had to pay huge amounts of money.”

“Did he consummate the marriage?” Mr Holmes questioned before he was quickly shut down by Isabel.

“Stop it,” she argued. “We don’t need to do this.”

Mr Holmes hit back: “We do need to do this because it’s an essential question.”

“Hmm,” Isabel disagreed as her co-presenter said: “It’s interesting because you can see how you can be with someone but to marry them… it is interesting.

“I don’t know if it is physically possible, I have no idea.”

Ms Webster seemed to agree with Mr Holmes as she weighed in: “The thing is this is the question of where we all go, ‘We shouldn’t talk about it’ but this is the question everyone is asking, isn’t it?”

Eamonn Holmes thanks supporters as Ruth Langsford separation announced

The debate took place a week after Mr Holmes and Ms Langsford confirmed that they had filed for divorce, with the NI native directly mentioning the issue while hosting his breakfast show last week.

He told viewers: “Just before we move on, we’d just like to thank people for your support for Ruth and I over the last few days as to the news of our separation. Your support for both of us is very much appreciated.”

The millionaires, who have shared a personal as well as professional relationship since they met in 1996, also run a number of businesses together, share a pet dog and a multi-million pound home.

They are reported to have a combined net worth of £5m, according to the Daily Mail.

The former couple, who married in 2010 after 13 years of dating, have one son, Jack, who was born in 2002.

Mr Holmes and Ms Langsford first began presenting ITV daytime programme This Morning together in 2006, before leaving the programme in 2021 and being replaced by Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond.

He also presented Channel 5 programmes with Ms Langsford including How The Other Half Lives, Do The Right Thing With Eamonn And Ruth and Eamonn And Ruth’s 7 Year Itch.