Inside This Morning star’s difficult year

It’s been a difficult year for This Morning star Holly Willoughby, to say the least.

The 42-year-old mum of three might be the darling presenter of This Morning, but her 2023 has certainly had its ups and downs.

With Holly’s career still going strong, let us take you through many of the hurdles she’s faced this year.

Holly’s friendship with Phil completely broke down

After replacing Fern Britton in 2009 as a presenter on This Morning, Holly and Phillip Schofield became the best of friends. They were even known to go on vacations with their families together. Sadly, not everything lasts forever.

After remaining close for over 10 years, headlines suggested their friendship was on the rocks behind the scenes. In this case, the rumours appeared to be true. Viewers quickly started to notice the tension between the pair on This Morning, leaving them feeling uncomfortable. Before we knew it, their working relationship would suddenly come to an end and the duo would be no longer.

Holly and Phillip have not been seen in the same room together since Phillip left ITV in May.

This Morning star Holly Willoughby blamed for Phillip’s scandal

Back in May, Phillip quit his job at ITV altogether after admitting he had an affair with a much younger colleague working at This Morning. In his statement, Phillip revealed he had lied to ITV, his family, and even his co-star Holly. He referred to the affair as “unwise” but “not illegal”.

Since her tight friendship with Phillip, many thought Holly was well aware of all this going on behind the scenes and was partly blamed for the scandal. Even though she hasn’t said much about Phillip overall, she did respond to these claims.

“It’s taken time to process yesterday’s news,” Holly wrote on her Instagram Story at the time. “When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie.”

In his exclusive interview with The Sun, Phillip backed Holly and even admitted to texting her to apologise for lying. “It was the one secret in our sanctuary that was never mentioned,” he said.

Holly was still accused of lying

Despite telling fans that she had been lied to by Phillip, there were many people who believed Holly was lying. For this reason, it was suggested she should also get the boot from ITV.

Following her return to This Morning, Holly said she was “shaken, let down, and worried” after the scandal with Phillip kicked off. Asking for her opinion on the matter, Kim Woodburn slammed Holly on GB News by saying she didn’t believe a word she said. The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant said she should have been fired and never liked “the way she behaved”.

Former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes called Holly “as false” as Phillip on GB News and believed she had stabbed in him in the back. Katie Hopkins also mimicked Holly’s speech on her YouTube channel, which heavily implied that she wasn’t being sincere.

Phillip snubbed Holly by unfollowing her

After following each other for many years on Instagram, Phillip decided to suddenly unfollow Holly, four months after the scandal unfolded. That’s not all, however. The Daily Mail also noted that his two daughters – Molly and Ruby Schofield – also unfollowed Holly around the same time. Once again, this proved that their friendship was over once and for all.

As of October 6, Holly still follows all three of them.

Holly was snubbed at the NTAs

With a career as successful as Holly’s, it comes as no surprise that she has been nominated for awards. That said, at this year’s National Television Awards, the Wylde Moon founder was completely snubbed in the category of TV Presenter. Despite being nominated in the category many times before, her co-star Alison Hammond was chosen instead. After a rocky year, it was hard not to notice the quite obvious snub.

A man was charged with trying to murder and kidnap This Morning star Holly Willoughby

It seems Holly just cannot catch a break. After months of public scrutiny, news broke that a man named Gavin Plumb was charged with soliciting a man named David Nelson in an attempt to murder and kidnap the television presenter between October 2 and October 5 in Harlow, Essex.

Before the news was shared publicly, Holly pulled out of presenting This Morning. According to The Guardian, her London home is said to be guarded by police. As a result, Gavin was arrested on Wednesday (October 4) on suspicion of conspiracy to kidnap.

On the Friday episode of This Morning (October 6), Dermot O’Leary responded to the shocking news. “We are not going to talk too much about it but Holly is on the front pages after police arrested a 36-year-old man over an alleged kidnap plot. He has now been charged by Essex police,” he said.

“We are obviously all shocked to hear the news and we want to send our love and biggest hugs to Holly and her family,” Alison Hammond added.

Read more: Disturbing details about the man charged over Holly Willoughby ‘kidnap plot’ emerge