Ruth Langsford's co-stars have admitted that they have been "worried" about her as they demanded to know where she had been after a break from social media.
The 60-year-old sparked fears she had quit Loose Women after disappearing from the limelight for weeks amid her axe from This Morning's Friday episodes alongside husband Eamonn Holmes.
Andrea McLean and Saira Khan are the most recent stars to quit Loose Women, so fans worried that Ruth could be next.
But Ruth returned to the panel today - prompting co-star Linda Robson to ask where she had been.
After Ruth introduced the segment, Linda exclaimed: "Now, Ruth - where have you been?!"
"I haven't been anywhere," Ruth responded with a laugh. "Everybody's been worried..."
Linda continued: "You're not on social media, I'm worried about you!"
"I just took some time off because I didn't take any time off all of last year," she explained. "We worked through all of that and there was no point in going on holiday, was there?
"So I don't want to make you jealous, ok, where I've been - it was quite chilly, it was my front drive because I've got a skip."
Ruth said that it was "nearly full up" and that she'd cleared up a lot of the house as Eamonn is the "worst hoarder".
She added to viewers: "So yes, I am still here at Loose Women. I know people had been asking if I'd left..."
Linda quipped: "We were worried about you!"
"Well thank you, but you don't need to worry about me," Ruth insisted. "I'm back."
*Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV
