Eamonn Holmes has dismissed claims he fell asleep while presenting his GB News breakfast show, insisting he was merely checking faulty equipment. The 66-year-old broadcaster said: “I was just looking down at my mic pack to see why it was not working, as we don't have floor managers or camera operators. Apparently I was sleeping? Whatever!”
Holmes also revealed he has healed a long-running rift with former GMTV co-host Anthea Turner, with whom he presented from 1994 to 1996. He said: “I am now best friends with Anthea Turner. There used to be real hatred between us and then I realised that Anthea was playing a part that she has been told to do. She has been very successful at it. I spoke to her tonight before I came here.”
However, he is less forgiving of singer Mariah Carey, whom he once refused to interview. Recalling a particular incident, Holmes said: “She comes in and lays down on a chaise lounge. I was told Miss Carey was very tired, as she had been up from 9am. I had been up from 4am. So I lay down beside her. Someone said ‘what are you doing?’ There were eruptions. I said ‘there is only one way this interview is happening. We either both lay down or we both sit up.’ I took off and left.”
Speaking at a live event in London, Holmes also addressed his relationship with disgraced BBC newsreader Huw Edwards, who was given a suspended jail sentence for possessing indecent images of children. Holmes said: “Huw Edwards? I knew him very very well and was going to meet him the week after he was arrested. Did I suspect anything was wrong with him? No.”
Now a wheelchair user due to chronic back issues, Holmes criticised accessibility in hotels and cinemas, and expressed strong views on the benefits system. He said: “I was very much brought up in a poor family. Do I remember benefits? No. Do I remember going to school with no breakfast? I don’t see why it is my responsibility to feed your kids at school.” He also criticised declining TV standards, saying: “I see people on television and have no talent whatsoever.”
