This Morning viewers are reacting to Holly Willoughby’s speech about Phillip Schofield.
On Monday (5 June), the presenter, who hosted the daytime series alongside Schofield for 14 years, returned to the show for the first time since her co-presenter quit. A few days after stepping down, Schofield admitted to lying about an affair with a much younger colleague.
“Right, deep breath,” Willoughby said, before asking her audience: “Firstly, are you OK? I hope so.”
Willoughby said she felt “shaken, troubled, let down, and worried” for “the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s going on”.
She added: “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. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone. 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.”
Some viewers have since branded Willoughby’s statement as “ridiculous”, accusing the show of “self importance” in the wake of the scandal.
“Crikey Moses, are we entering a national period of mourning?” Twitter user David Banks wrote, adding: “Am I OK? Well, I could have done with another biscuit with my morning tea, but the travails of This Morning have left me largely unscathed.”
An additional Twitter user wrote: “I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite as patronising as Holly Willoughby rocking up to tell us how we must be feeling.”
“I for one love to be talked to like a child who’s just learned their family pet has been sent to a farm,” journalist Lucy Ford wrote, with Mark Choake adding: “Christ!! Who’s died!? The mourning here is absolutely ridiculous.”
There was some support for Willoughby, though, with one tweet reading: “This must have been so difficult for her, she did well.”
Another read: “If you don’t believe Holly Willoughby, then change the channel. Not that hard. I for one, support her 100 per cent and wish her the best in what is a tough situation.”
Meanwhile, one viewer admonished the criticism of Willoughby, stating: “It’s a difficult position for her to be in and she didn’t actually do anything wrong.” Twitter user MiniLinks wrote: “I actually feel sorry for #HollyWilloughby and think she was being genuinely sincere. Let’s move on...”
Piers Morgan also supported his “good friend” Willoughby, telling his TalkTV viewers “she is in an impossible situation”.
Last week, Schofield shared a text that he sent Willoughby in the immediate aftermath of his statement that revealed the affair.
The host also discussed the scandal in an interview with BBC’s Amol Rajan, in which he refuted claims that Willoughby knew about his affair.
Find a full rundown of Willoughby’s reported “feud” with Schofield here. Follow the latest updates via our liveblog.
