Eamonn Holmes has said that he’s been “mocked” over his use of a mobility scooter.
The GB News presenter underwent spinal surgery last year to treat chronic back pain, and has not had “full mobility” since.
Speaking to Best magazine, Holmes said: “Some people were mocking me on social media... ‘Oh, look at Eamonn, he’s in a mobility scooter!’ I replied, saying, ‘I would prefer if I wasn’t in it but how else would I have got around?’
“The alternative is I don’t go anywhere, and I sit in my armchair, work in the office. So, I go out... It’s mentally uplifting to get out.”
Holmes previously underwent double hip replacement surgery in 2016.
Describing himself as “humble” and “helpless but grateful” to receieve physical help from others, the presenter explained: “It’s truly draining when you have to say, ‘do you mind? Could you...? Thank you, I’m sorry’. The good news is the op last year cured me of my back pain... I lost full mobility. I’m doing everything I can to get better. But it’s slow.”
He continued: “I now accept life is easier with help from others. Getting around with crutches is exhausting. I wish I could walk further but, for now, I can’t.”
Addressing his eagerness to get out the house, Holmes suggested that some people were under the mistaken belief that he was already “fixed”.
“Some people think I’m fixed but it just looks like that on TV... I like getting out,” he explained. “Going to the cinema is a terrible effort but worth it. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning was great.”
Holmes hosted ITV’s This Morning on Fridays alongside his wife, the presenter Ruth Langsford, from 2006 to 2021.
Eamonn Holmes pictured in June 2023— (Getty Images)
He spoke about his chronic back pain during an appearance on This Morning in 2021, revealing that the condition had left him unable to sleep through the night.
Last week, Holmes launched a scathing attack on ITV during an appearance on his GB News series, accusing the broadcaster of re-using the same few presenters.
“I mean, ITV are the worst,” he said. “If it’s not Ant and Dec, or it’s not Simon Cowell, or it’s not Bradley Walsh on The Chase – they’ve got no other ideas.”
The complaints against his former employer provoked a backlash among some viewers, with one person branding Holmes’s remarks “pathetic”.
Additional reporting by PA
