Inside Eamonn Holmes and Anthea Turner's bitter feud – 'toe' swipe to quitting show

Before Good Morning Britain was a thing, presenters Anthea Turner and Eamonn Holmes hosted ITV’s pre-cursor GMTV.

Bringing smiles to viewers’ faces during the week, the two hosts appeared alongside each other from 1994 with broadcaster Fiona Phillips in tow.

But although matters seemed rather pleasant on-screen, things were certainly brewing behind the scenes which caused Anthea to make an abrupt departure from the show two years later.

What was to follow was a bitter feud that lasted a number of years.

But as Anthea celebrates her 62nd birthday, Daily Star has taken a look at what caused the pair to have a rift and whether they are on good terms now.

What did Eamonn say about Anthea?

Following her role on BBC’s Blue Peter, Anthea left children’s television and joined ITV’s GMTV in 1994, but she sensationally quit two years later in 1996.

According to reports at the time, Anthea and Eamonn’s off-screen relationship was frosty and he often made rude remarks about her.

Talking to a newspaper publication at the time he claimed Anthea was demanding and nicknamed her “Princess Tippy Toes”.

He also accused her of being vain and obsessed with her image while reportedly telling TV bosses to sack her or he would leave the show.

A year after her departure, Anthea broke her silence on the situation. She explained: “I never was and never wanted to be a rival to Eamonn.

“Maybe he didn’t understand that. He is an excellent journalist and he is well respected for that.”

After she left the show, Anthea was replaced by Fiona.

Anthea speaks out

Presenter Anthea was clearly upset about her fallout with Eamonn and seemed to allude to sexism being the main catalyst for their rift.

She also claimed she was treated unfairly due to her ambition to do well in her job.

Talking openly to The Sun in 2021, Anthea expressed her hurt but also said “revenge is a dish best served sweet”.

She said: “I was always asked if I was ambitious and if I said yes, I was made out to be a ruthless person who would walk over anybody to get where I wanted. It would be said that I was hormonal, or I was stamping my feet.’

“And yet ask that question to a man, and if he’s ambitious, we think, “What a guy”. You’d never hear anyone say that about Eamonn or Phillip Schofield. No, they’re just doing their job.'”

Moving on

Since the pair’s bust-up, Anthea and Eamonn did seem to mend their relationship when broadcaster Eamonn reached out to her in 2005.

Anthea was also invited to join him and his wife Ruth Langsford on the This Morning sofa in 2018.

While on the show Ruth went on to say that she was happy that the former presenting duo was on good terms.

As the interview came to an end, Ruth said: “It’s very nice that you two are friends.”

What did Anthea and Eamonn do next?

When Anthea was on GMTV she was the highest-paid female host after Blind Date presenter Cilla Black.

Talking about her wages to The Sun she said: “Apparently, I was the second-highest earner after Cilla. There must have been a huge gap between Cilla and me.

“I was on a decent salary. But, considering what people get nowadays, it was nothing.”

Anthea went on to host BBC Three’s Perfect Housewife in 2006 and she also appeared in reality shows Hell’s Kitchen and Celebrity Big Brother.

Meanwhile, Eamonn presented ITV’s This Morning part-time with his wife Ruth for 15 years, but in 2021, ITV decided to let the celebrity couple go after internal research discovered he was unpopular with viewers.

Eamonn is currently still hosting his show on Talk Radio.

For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk