EAMONN Holmes was pictured smiling and laughing with his girlfriend Katie Alexander just two days before suffering a devastating stroke.
The 66-year-old TV veteran looked in good spirits at an Easter party as he raised a glass for a photo while sitting in his mobility chair.
His TikTok star friend Alex Rayner — also a pal of Prince Harry’s — shared a clip, which showed Eamonn joking: “I’m not winning the egg and spoon race.”
But on Tuesday, just hours later, he was found slumped at his home in Kingston-upon-Thames by a carer and rushed to hospital.
He had been due to return to GB News this week after a month off but remains in hospital.
A friend said: “It’s been a terrifying time. Eamonn fell ill at home and those close to him have been worried sick ever since.
“Fortunately, Eamonn’s on the road to recovery. Katie has been by his side in hospital pretty much all of the time, except to get a change of clothes at home.
“She loves him dearly and is doing all she can to help.
“Everyone is just praying he’ll be back home soon.”
Eamonn’s ex-wife, Loose Women presenter Ruth Langsford, 66, has been kept informed via their son Jack, 23.
The estranged spouses, who were married for 14 years, are still in the process of divorcing after splitting in 2024.
A source added: “Ruth is concerned for him, he’s the father of her son, and she wishes him well. Everyone in the family was made aware of the emergency.”
Eamonn’s health woes came to the fore in 2021, after he suffered three slipped discs and a dislocated pelvis.
He began using a wheelchair the following year after undergoing surgery, and he is now supported by carers every day.
His recovery was severely hampered when he suffered a shoulder fracture in a staircase fall at his home in October 2022.
He was left bed-bound at the time — unable to attend his mother Josie’s funeral in Belfast in November 2022. Eamonn has described missing the service as “the greatest sorrow” of his life.
Speaking about his health last month, the Northern Irishman said: “Well, obviously, I’ve been better.
“I’ve got this back and paralysis problem which has been with me now for three years.
“It’s terrible to come to terms with.
“The thing is, nobody seems to know what the problem is so I just stick with it and hopefully they’ll find a cure one day.”
He has also spoken about how he now requires assistance.
Eamonn said: “I have to have carers now looking after me.
“Somebody dresses me in the morning, somebody undresses me at night, somebody gets my food for me. I have to be tested with spinal injections to see if it will take, and then grow some life back into my spine and legs.”
He said having carers was both “humiliating and humbling”.
Eamonn and relationship therapist Katie, 44, have been together since the time of his marriage split.
The pair are said to have met years earlier, reportedly exchanging messages on social media platform X as far back as 2015.
Eamonn recently described mum-of-three Katie as the “perfect tonic” for his struggles.
He added: “I may be physically struggling, but mentally I’m still very much on the ball.
“I honestly don’t feel any different from when I started on TV over 40 years ago.”