‘I was made out to be a ruthless person’: Anthea Turner recalls her bitter ‘feud’ with Eamonn Holmes which saw her forced to leave GMTV after being labelled as too ‘ambitious’
Anthea Turner has opened up about her past ‘feud’ with Eamonn Holmes, which resulted in her leaving her job at GMTV.
The housekeeping expert and Eamonn, both 61, co-hosted ITV1 breakfast show GMTV from 1994 to 1996 but their relationship was famously frosty, with it reported at the time that he had given his bosses an ultimatum – either they sack Anthea or he would leave.
And now in a new interview, Anthea has hinted that she still feels sensitive over the fallout and her being branded too ‘ambitious’, remarking that she was ‘made out to be a ruthless person’.
Candid: Anthea Turner has opened up about her past ‘feud’ with Eamonn Holmes, which resulted in her leaving her job at GMTV (pictured in 2018)
Reflecting on the difficult time in her career, Anthea told how she wished that social media was around in those days that she could have her say and fight back against her critics directly.
She told The Sun: ‘Revenge is a dish best served sweet. Best of all, I’m still here.I thought it was sad. I just wanted to do the job I enjoyed, but unfortunately the roles have to be labelled.
‘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.’
She added: ‘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.’
Tense: The housekeeping expert and Eamonn, both 61, co-hosted ITV1 breakfast show GMTV from 1994 to 1996 but their relationship was famously frosty (pictured in 1995)
Anthea quit GMTV in 1996 and was replaced by Fiona Phillips, but a decade after their fallout, Eamonn, who famously branded her ‘Princess Tippy Toes’ reached out to bury the hatchet.
Sharing how she now feels about the experience, Anthea noted that growing older has helped her to heal as she says she can look back and ‘smile’, remarking that it’s water off a duck’s back’.
She joked that she doesn’t have the words ‘bitter’ or ‘twisted’ tattooed on her forehead, nor has she ‘weighed herself down’ with any negativity from the past.
The TV personality, who after her exit went on to appear on reality shows including Celebrity Big Brother and Hell’s Kitchen, added that the way she feels now differs to how she felt at the time, adding she had ‘terrible moments’.
Fallout: In an interview, Anthea has hinted that she still feels sensitive over the fallout and her being branded too ‘ambitious’, remarking that she was ‘made out to be a ruthless person’
Past: Reflecting on the difficult time in her career, Anthea told how she wished that social media was around in those days so she could fight back against her critics directly (pictured in 1996)
She went on to say that nobody ‘like injustice’ or wishes to be ‘misinterpreted’, adding ‘It hurts, it really hurts.’
As she opened up about the past, she remembered reading about herself and thinking she ‘didn’t know that person’.
And she noted that if it had occurred in the present day, she could have used social media and have had an ‘immediate chance’ to reply to criticism.
At the height of the tension at work, she told how she felt physical sick at the thought of coming to work in the ‘hostile’ environment.
Harsh: ‘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’
Observation: ‘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’
Adding that she felt ‘gutted’ and ‘hurt’ when she did eventually leave the show after two years.
Meanwhile, Anthea told that while she was one of the biggest stars on television back in the 90s, unlike today’s celebrities, she didn’t have a team of PRs to help her, only a management company.
The beauty used Holly Willloughby as an example, observing that there’s an ‘infrastructure’ and a PR who looks after the This Morning host’s publicity.
She said that her management were ‘shocked’ at how much attention she had during the height of her fame and recalled how they were not ‘prepared’.
Exit: Anthea quit GMTV in 1996 and was replaced by Fiona Phillips, but a decade after their fallout, Eamonn, who famously branded her ‘Princess Tippy Toes’, reached out to bury the hatchet
Over it: Sharing how she now feels about the experience, Anthea noted that growing older has helped her to heal as she says she can look back and ‘smile’ (pictured in 2017)
Anthea went on to say that she felt ‘slightly naked’ as being subject to that much attention.
Back in 2018, Anthea appeared on This Morning with Eamonn and his wife Ruth Langsford and they let bygones be bygones as they addressed their famous feud.
When talking about if you can be friends with an ex, Eamonn said: ‘Well you are an ex of mine and we’re on good terms, some people think we hate each other.’
Anthea joked: ‘Ruth’s not bothered at all.’
All is well! Putting their feud to an end: Eamonn and Anthea let bygones be bygones as they reunited on screen on This Morning in 2018
Enemies? When talking about if you can be friends with an ex, Eamonn said: ‘Well you are an ex of mine and we’re on good terms, some people think we hate each other’
Ruth, replied: ‘No, we’re married, we’re properly married’, while Anthea quipped: ‘Yes, but we were on screen husband and wife.’
She continued: ‘There is a fine line between hate and love isn’t there? We were chatting in the break, Eamonn and I are a bit lazy and it’s easier to stay friends’, with Ruth Langsford adding it was ‘nice’ they could be.
Quipping back, Eamonn, who made up with the television present in 2009, said: ‘It’s about morality, life’s too short’, before standing up to present his former enemy a birthday cake and a hug.
Sweet: Eamonn said: ‘It’s about morality, life’s too short’, before standing up to present his former enemy a birthday cake and a hug
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