Eamonn Holmes and Anthea Turner’s bitter 11 year feud before peace-making call

Eamonn Holmes and Anthea Turner were thrust together to host GMTV in 1994 - but it was far from a match made in heaven.

The pairing instead triggered a 11-year feud that saw Eamonn accuse his co-star of being vain and brand her 'Princess Tippy Toes' in a sensational interview before she famously quit the show 24 years ago this month amid a storm of 'hurt'.

"I was gutted. What he did hurt me terribly. I'd be lying if I said it didn't," she told The Mirror soon after the animosity boiled over.

"I never was and never wanted to be a rival to Eamonn. Maybe he didn't understand that. He is an excellent journalist and he is well respected for that. I was never any threat to him."

Anthea and Eamonn have since put the past behind them and made friends.

But back then, relations were incredibly frosty. On her last day, Eamonn - who turns 61 today - was seen stomping off set as she was toasted with champagne, and Anthea, 60, admitted he wasn't included on the invite list to her glitzy leaving bash at the Belvedere restaurant in Holland Park.

She continued: "The whole thing was arranged by GMTV's director of programmes, Peter McHugh. He was responsible for who came and who didn't.

"And obviously Eamonn wasn't invited."

However, contrary to rumours, she insisted that Eamonn didn't force her out.

"It was never a case of him saying 'It's her or me.' That just didn't happen," she explained.

"I would have left GMTV at the point I did - with or without any silliness from Eamonn. It was the right time for me."

Last year, Anthea claimed she had found the move from Blue Peter to GMTV a 'shock' due to the apparent 'toxic environment'.

"It was an intensely hostile environment," Anthea told Best Magazine.

"I used to feel physically sick some mornings – really nauseous at the idea of going in there."

The pair finally buried the hatchet in 2005 when Eamonn left the ITV show for Sky and reached out to Anthea, admitting the hostility had gone on too long.

"One of the things I wanted to do leaving GMTV was to tie up loose ends," he told the Sunday Mirror in 2005.

"So I got in touch with Anthea. It was something there that should have been put to rest a long time ago."

And looking back, he blamed those around them for the simmering resentment. "I bear Anthea absolutely no ill-will at all. In many ways our strings were pulled by other people who I still actually do bear ill-will towards. They know who they are."

In 2009 they made their truce official when Anthea joined him on the sofa of his BBC show in Northern Ireland, The Friday Show.

"We have put the past behind us. It is nice that we are at a stage in our lives when we can finally do just that," he said.

Anthea added: "Being back on the sofa with Eamonn seems like the easiest thing in the entire world."

And in 2018, Anthea even joined Eamonn and his with Ruth Langsford on the This Morning sofa where they joked about being 'exes' who still get on.