Eamonn Holmes reveals Christmas will be 'difficult' after death of Ruth Langsford’s sister Julia

Eamonn Holmes has admitted that Christmas will be a “difficult time” for his family after wife Ruth Langsford’s sister Julia died in June.

Langsford, 59, took time off from presenting This Morning following Julia’s death over the summer, and said at the time that her “heart [was] completely broken” by her loss.

“Christmas will be a difficult time,” Holmes has now told Metro.co.uk. “I know we will both be reflective, whilst bearing in mind we have responsibilities to carry on for other people around us.”

He added that the couple’s memories of 2019 “will be dominated with the loss of Ruth’s sister Julia” and revealed that he had initially wanted to “forget” about his 60th birthday earlier this month, but was “very grateful” that his family made him celebrate anyway.

“What we would like to remember is a magnificent week of surprise celebrations I had served up to me for my 60th birthday in December,” he said.

“In fact, I’m all surprised out, but I’m very grateful to everyone who played their part in a birthday I initially simply wanted to forget.”

In a separate interview with OK!, the couple revealed that they almost cancelled their Christmas celebrations this year, but changed their mind when they remembered how much Julia loved the festivities.

Langsford told the magazine: “I’ll cry but we’ll be happy too.”

Shortly after Julia’s death, Holmes thanked This Morning viewers for their messages of support for Langsford, who was briefly replaced on the ITV show by Rylan Clark-Neal.

“I just wanted to say, if I haven’t done so directly, thank u for your kindness and compassion towards Ruth and the loss of her sister Julia, he wrote on Twitter. “We both loved and cared for Julia with all our hearts and will miss her forever.

“Your love and kind words have been a great help.”

Holmes and Langsford’s full interview with OK! is in this week’s magazine, out on Tuesday.