Holly Willoughby returned to This Morning on June 5 and made a pretty scathing statement about her ex-best friend Phillip Schofield.
As I’m sure you know, Phillip stepped down from This Morning and ITV after his affair with a younger colleague came to light. And, after watching Holly’s statement at the top of show, I don’t think she’s ready to forgive and forget his betrayal just yet.
Our first glimpse of Holly Willoughby as she returns to This Morning
We got our first glimpse of the blonde presenter when Lorraine Kelly crossed to the This Morning studios. Holly and co-host Josie Gibson were perched on stools, revealing what they had coming up on the show.
While Holly didn’t reference Phillip then, what struck me was how tiny she looked, dressed in white she kind of had an angelic vibe – a deliberate move by her stylist, perhaps? She definitely looked vulnerable, and it set the tone for what was to come.
Holly’s statement begins
The statement got off to a pretty bizarre start.
“Hi there, good morning. Josie, thank you for being here. Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you okay? I hope so,” Holly said. One look at Twitter will tell you exactly how viewers are feeling, and why ask, like they’re going to come back through the telly and reply to you? Maybe she was nervous, as suggested, or trying to make the statement more human (she failed on that one, but more on that later).
You can’t blame her, ITV pays her mortgage and keeps her kids in shoes.
Holly continued: “It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil. And I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have. Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions.”
Now, while she expressed concern for her old pal, I think Holly made it very clear which side of the fence she’s sitting on. Team ITV. You can’t blame her, ITV pays her mortgage and keeps her kids in shoes. Another thing that struck me is that this reference to “Phil” was the only time she mentioned her former colleague by name, when he’s been the name on everyone’s lips for weeks. Pretty weird, no?
Ouch!
Then came the blow, aimed directly at the fallen presenter. “You, me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process. And it’s equally hard to see the toll that it’s taken on their own mental health,” she said.
Holly called Phillip out as a liar live on air. It’s all very well staying it in an Instagram Stories post, but doing live when being watched by millions? Ouch! Although coupled with the concerns for his mental health, the “dig” could’ve been missed. But not by my eagle eyes. It seemed to me that Holly gave with one hand and took away with the other. Where does she sit on the Phil thing? She gave nothing away about the future of their friendship. But she’s definitely not happy with him right now!
Looking to the future
Next up was Holly’s declaration – although not in as many words – that she’s going nowhere.
“I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone,” she said, attempting to rally the troops watching at home. “I hope that as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that this show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.”
Yep, despite calls for her to stand down, she seems determined to stay at the helm of the show that’s made her a household name. Is that the right choice? I think so. Whether she knew about his affair or not, speaking from experience, when two of your colleagues are embroiled in an affair it’s pretty horrific to be a bystander.
Is it true, is it not true, what about their husband or wife, are they getting preferential treatment at work… Let me tell you, it distracts you from your job and messes with your head. When two of my former colleagues had an affair it made six months of my life a living hell. And I wasn’t the one doing the cheating. Holly’s done nothing wrong. I don’t think she should go.
But I’ve got to admit that the gushy line that came next left my breakfast threatening to make a comeback.
Blerguh! Holly Willoughby signs off her This Morning statement
“And from my heart, can I just say thank you for all of your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning. Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison, Craig and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every single day to bring you the show that we love.,” she gushed.
To me, it smacked of someone protesting a little too much about claims of “toxicity” on the show.
Also, I’d hazard a guess that the statement wasn’t all Holly’s own work. Of course her bosses and lawyers and a billion other people at ITV probably stuck their two penn’orth in. I just didn’t think it sounded like Holly.
It was just a little too measured for my liking, a bit too pointed for people who’ve been friends for decades, and severely lacking in human emotion… If I was Holly I’d have at least tried to squeeze one tear out, but then perhaps she cried all her tears into her beer on the beach in Portugal…
Read more: Holly Willoughby’s cryptic Instagram post ahead of This Morning return
So what do you think? Head to our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and share your thoughts.