Eamonn Holmes admits he wanted to ‘knock Anne Robinson’s f***ing head off’ after she criticised his parenting

EAMONN Holmes has revealed that he once told Anne Robinson he would have "knocked her f**king head off" after she criticised his parenting.

The broadcaster recalled the Countdown host angering him after she claimed he had "sacrificed fatherhood for fame" while commenting on how Eamonn balanced his career in London and family in Northern Ireland.

The This Morning star, 61, made the revelation during a candid interview on RTÉ One’s The Meaning of Life on Sunday.

Eamonn began: "This is coming from a man who would fly back from London for his kids’ school sports days, who would take the last flight out of Belfast at 10 o’clock at night when he’d tucked them up in bed at 8pm, you know, who just was there for them all the time at every need for them.

"And this is the man who went into an airport lounge one Sunday morning, very, very early in Belfast, and there was one other person in that lounge and it was Anne Robinson.

"I walked over to her and I simply said, very coldly and heartfelt meant, 'if you were a bloke, I would knock your f**king head off. I just want you to know that.'"

The morning TV host claims that Anne, 76, responded to his anger by saying she was "only joking", but later apologised for her comments while sitting on a plane together.

Eamonn added: "Subsequently Anne Robinson then asked me to sit beside her on the plane and I thought twice about it and I sat down beside her, and we had a very enlightening conversation, a very sensible conversation, and she apologised.

"What can you do when someone apologises? You are left with a choice whether you forgive or don’t forgive, and I decided to forgive her."

Eamonn has three children with his ex wife Gabrielle; Declan, Rebecca and Niall, who are all still based in Belfast.

Following his divorce, the TV star went on to marry Ruth Langsford in 2010 and they have a son Jack, 19, together.

In the same RTÉ interview, Eamonn broke down in tears over his late father - 31 years after his sudden death.

The This Morning host's father Leonard suffered a fatal heart attack while driving in the countryside of Northern Ireland aged 65 and recalled the harrowing experience in his 2006 autobiography, This Is My Life.

The presenter had been in London over Easter in 1991 when his parents and younger brother Conor spent the weekend in their caravan in seaside town Ballycastle, Antrim.

Following the weekend, Eamonn called his parents' home on April 3 hoping to hear all about their trip however there was no answer, nor to the call he made 30 minutes later.

At 7pm that night, Eamonn received a phonecall from his brother Colm who told him of their father's death after he had taken ill returning from their trip.

The broadcaster wrote in his book that his father became unwell suddenly and had pulled over on the road and couldn't move from the driver's seat - but on a country road and without a phone there wasn't much Eamonn's mother Josie could do.

By chance a family friend, John Linehan, had been visiting the area and came to their aid while they waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Upon hearing the devastating news, Eamonn rushed to Heathrow Airport and managed to get on the final flight to Belfast so he could be with his family.

The TV star said that his mother Josie never got over Leonard's death, while Eamonn explained that he never got over the grief of seeing his father's body in the mortuary.