Ruth Langsford has revealed she is the ‘bad cop’ opposite husband Eamonn Holmes’s ‘good cop’ when it comes to parenting their son.
The 61-year-old television host has been married to mild mannered fellow TV host Eamonn since 2010 and together they have a 19-year-old son named Jack.
And while 61-year-old Eamonn makes for a good mediator in the family home, it sounds like Ruth would rule with an iron fist if she were left to raise a child alone.
Ruth peeled back the curtains into her family life on Tuesday’s edition of Loose Women where the ladies were discussing a recent news article which suggested single mother’s make better parents.
Rejecting the idea, Ruth said: “I would rather have two people, personally, to bat ideas between each other, to take the strain off sometimes.
“I know with Eamonn, he’s a very good mediator between Jack and I. Because I am more, I hate the word ‘disciplinarian’ but, you know…
“I’m the one who is a bit more ‘No you can’t do that’, and ‘you can’t have that’. Eamonn is a bit more loose about it all.”
Ruth continued: “He’s been very good. The other day Jack and I were having a row about something, he came in and was like ‘What’s all this?’
“And I go” ‘He want’s a television in his bedroom and he’s not having it!’
“And he would go, ‘Well hang on a minute, before you say he’s not, why don’t you want Jack to have a television.’ And I’ll say; ‘Because he will be up all night watching it.’”
She then imitated Eamonn turning to Jack to ask for his view, and said Jack would say: “I won’t. I’ll only watch it to a certain time.”
Ruth went on: “Eamonn is very good at that. On my own, Jack would have been worse off because I would have said ‘Absolutely no. You’re not having a television and that’s it.’ I was very stuck in my ways.
“But Eamonn would mediate. So I think having a partner or somebody to just take the strain.”
Fellow Loose Women panelist Katie Piper agreed and said she likes to be able to unwind with a glass of wine with her partner at the end of the day and say “Weren’t they a nightmare today”.
While fellow panelist Judi Love revealed she struggled being a single parent at times.
She said: “It wasn’t my choice. Unfortunately a break up happened and the situation happened. You don’t want to be in that situation.
“Parents, as a single parent, there’s been many things I’ve had to do because I’m on my own and this is the decision, but I do always think about all the things my parents might have missed out on, having that co-parent if he existed within our home.”
Loose Women airs on ITV, week days at 12:30pm.
