Some years ago, Holly Willoughby made a vow to cut back on her working schedule.
Deciding that her high-profile, highly paid job on This Morning was already quite enough, she pulled out of heading up a much-anticipated lifestyle brand project with her then close friend, Dragons’ Den star and businessman Peter Jones.
Her reason, she confided to friends at the time, was that she didn’t want to sacrifice being a hands-on mum – a role she takes more seriously than any of her showbiz commitments.
Namely, it was the job of taking her eldest child Harry – on the cusp of becoming a teenager at the time – to his football matches that swung it for her.
‘She wanted to be there dropping him off for practice and cheering him on at the games,’ a friend told me.
‘She might be rich and very famous, but she is hands-on. She does the school pick-ups and just loves being a normal mum, putting on her Barbour jacket and taking the kids to play dates without the help of security or a crowd of nannies.’
Holly Willoughby vowed years ago to cut back on her work schedule to be a hands-on mum (pictured out in London walking her dog last month)
The TV presenter decided high-profile, highly paid job on This Morning was already quite enough (pictured with co-host Josie Gibson on Wednesday, October 4)
On Wednesday night, though, Holly’s ‘normal’ changed – quite possibly for ever – when she learned of an alleged plot to kidnap her. She was due to appear on This Morning the next day.
Sources at ITV say she was ‘in bits’ and they quickly called in seasoned This Morning presenter Alison Hammond to take her place next to co-presenter Josie Gibson.
Viewers were left guessing as to why Holly – the consummate professional – wasn’t there.
Those close to Holly say she was ‘shaken’, ‘petrified’ and ‘unable to take in’ what happened. One told me: ‘Holly couldn’t believe that she got up one morning and that’s how the day went. It is absolutely awful, it’s difficult to find the words.’
Another friend told the Mail: ‘There have been several stages of this, which have shocked Holly more as she learned more.
‘Thursday was not a good day for her. It was frightening and distressing as she learned the breakdown of the accusations. It terrified her.’
Undoubtedly, Holly, 42, will have gained some comfort from her TV colleagues, including Lorraine Kelly, Hammond and her sidekick Dermot O’Leary, who wished her well from their respective on-screen sofas. Even Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told of his shock and upset when he appeared on This Morning today.
But it’s to her husband, TV producer Dan Baldwin, and her three children – Harry, 14, Belle, 12, and Chester, nine – that she will be turning at this moment. They will be at the forefront of her mind right now, because, says a friend, ‘they are what is most important to her’.
Holly Willoughby was pulled from presenting This Morning this week in the wake of the allegations (pictured at the National Television Awards at The O2, in London, in September)
Willoughby is said to be under 24/7 police guard at her London home where she lives with her husband Dan Baldwin (pictured together) and their three children
So vital are her family to her happiness that some close to Holly are even wondering whether the alleged threat posed to her much prized everyday lifestyle will make her reconsider her life in the spotlight. ‘Sometimes it doesn’t seem worth it, does it?’ one told me sadly.
Indeed, the fact is that when Holly and Dan got married in 2007 and decided to start a family, they determined do so with as much normality as possible.
At the time, she was a fledging presenter, hosting the X Factor spin-off, The Xtra Factor, and Dan was an upwardly mobile television executive.
They bought a home in a leafy enclave of London, close to an array of good private schools, and with a strong local community which they both rapidly became part of.
It’s a location which reveals much about their attitude to life: the couple made a conscious decision not to lock themselves away behind a long drive in the Home Counties, like other big-name presenters. Since then, she has obviously become a household name – but Holly still remains an intrinsic part of that same local community.
She walks the family’s beloved golden retriever Bailey regularly, cheers on Harry at his weekend football matches and takes her younger two children to their hobbies and clubs too.
Her This Morning working hours are especially valued by her, finishing early in the day, which allows her to pick her children up from school and ferry them to activities in the evenings.
When one of her sons needed dropping off for a school trip in May, she took him – even though she was in the midst of her very public fall-out with Phillip Schofield.
And every summer she and her family are seen around and about their £3 million villa in the Algarve, Portugal. Indeed, in July she was seen shopping at bargain sports chain Decathlon close to their holiday home.
Holly’s routine – which will sound thoroughly normal to most middle-class mums – was managed entirely without any sort of security.
Insight:Â A post on her Wylde Moon account saw the star share tips from a psychologist about mental health struggles
Willoughby, 42, was said to be ‘distraught’ after police uncovered an alleged plot to kidnap herÂ
Holly shared a candid post about coping with anxiety just hours before claims emerged of a plot to kidnap her
But on Wednesday night all that changed – possibly for good. Not only does Holly now have police outside her home, but ITV are also taking her safety seriously – installing a sizeable, full-time security team to guard her 24/7. Sources say it will stay in place ‘for as long as is necessary’.
‘This isn’t how Holly wants to live her life,’ says one friend. ‘She has never lived in fear like this before. It all seems so unfair.’
It has already been a difficult few months for her. In May, her former best friend and This Morning co-host Schofield, 61, quit the show after they very publicly fell out.
She was later left devastated when he admitted that he had engaged in an affair with a much younger runner working on the ITV daytime programme – and then lied about it.
Holly insisted she knew nothing about the relationship, but still faced criticism from viewers and commentators who were convinced she must have been aware of Schofield’s behaviour.
Then, upon her return to the show, she was ridiculed for her ‘Are you OK?’ monologue, with which she addressed viewers.
She has also faced upset in her personal life, too: last week Holly’s uncle, to whom she was close, passed away.
As someone close to Team Holly said to me today: ‘It feels like it has been one thing after another for Holly. The Phil stuff really took it out of her. She lost a best friend and had to find out some pretty difficult truths about him and how he has been living his life. Surely it’s about time she caught a bit of a break.’
As for Holly and her return to ITV, it remained very much in the balance last night.
She held telephone meetings with the network’s bosses today to discuss the worrying new landscape.
One of the subjects up for discussion, of course, was when she might return to the This Morning sofa. While conversations continue, sources tell me it’s likely that Holly will struggle to get her head around the traumatic events of the past few days in time for a composed return to work on Monday.
Indeed, they indicate, with half-term just around the corner, it’s likely she will not be back on our screens until after the school holidays have concluded.
The question remains, though, whether the latest upset will nudge TV’s golden girl to reconsider the price of fame – and whether the needs of her family will win out over her hard-won career.
