Holly Willoughby has announced that she won't be back on This Morning tomorrow after being taken ill. The 42-year-old presenter has been away from the ITV chat show since Thursday, March 30 for her two week Easter break and was expected to be back on screen on Monday, April 17 with her co-host Phillip Schofield.
However, the mum of three took to Instragram to inform that she may be away for the rest of the week after coming down with shingles. She wrote on the distinctive green This Morning logo backdrop: "Hi ...just to let you know I may be away for the rest of the week as I have Shingles," she said with frustrated-face emoji. Holly added: "I'll be back as soon as I'm better. Huge Love."
According to the NHS, shingles is an infection caused by the chickenpox virus that causes a painful rash. People should get advice from 111 as soon as possible if they think they have it.
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The first signs of shingles can be a tingling or painful feeling in an area of skin, a headache or feeling generally unwell and a rash will appear a few days later. Usually the shingles rash appears on the chest and tummy, but can appear anywhere on the body including the face, eyes and genitals. The rash appears as blotches on the skin, on one side of the body only. A rash on both the left and right of the body is unlikely to be shingles.
Sufferers cannot spread shingles to others. But people who have not had chickenpox before could catch chickenpox, this is because shingles is caused by the chickenpox virus.
Sufferers should try to avoid, pregnant people who have not had chickenpox before, people with a weakened immune system such as someone having chemotherapy and babies less than a month old unless they gave birth to them, as their baby should be protected from the virus by the sufferer's immune system.
During her last week on the show before the Easter holiday Holly was joined by familiar faces as she was left to fly solo without Phillip. She was joined at the helm by Alison Hammond for an all-female takeover and then by The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett.
The mum-of-three took to her social media page to share a sweet moment she shared with her children - Harry, Belle and Chester -on her last day on This Morning. "Favourite interview of the week…" Holly penned to her millions of followers alongside a photo showing her sat on the famous ITV daytime sofa with her three very special guests alongside her.
"The kids popped into @thismorning as they have broken up from school, Soooo lovely having them there. They have grown so much since the last time they were here," she said.
She added: "So that’s me for two weeks… I’m off to be with them and see if I can break the record for the most chocolate eggs consumed in 24 hours… wish me luck!"
Holly and Phillip have since been replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary, who usually takeover on Fridays. On Monday March 27, confirming Phillip's length of the absence, but not the reason why, she went on: "Phillip is taking the week off so all the adults have left the building... Alison's come to play," Holly said with a squeal. "It's so good to be here," Alison responded.
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