As a feud rages behind the scenes of This Morning between its co-presenters, questions hang over the futures of Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby – and as it stands, the odds are in Holly’s favour.
Despite reports that Phil is keen to ‘tough out’ the tricky period and pretend all is well onscreen, ITV bosses are under increasing pressure to solve the dispute one way or another – with Holly reportedly considering going it alone.
Although Phil has been around for decades on the network, reports have emerged this week that suggest Holly, who is thought to be worth £10 million, is willing to carry on presenting the show without the 61-year-old.
As tension ramps up between the pair, who once publicly gushed over their close friendship but have gone quiet on the subject in recent months, it has been reported that they have called off their annual tradition of holidaying together this year.
The pair had previously plastered holiday snaps all over Instagram, showing them doing shots and posing in the sunshine, with Phil labelling Holly his ‘bestie’. But as tension ramps up between them, their days in the sun appear to be no more.
Embattled presenting duo Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby are racing to save their television careers – but reports suggest Schofield is more likely to be the one who is axed
Despite a bubbly and mischievous onscreen persona, 42-year-old Holly is no stranger to the cutthroat world of showbusiness and has previously sacrificed commitments with her friends in order to pursue other work projects.
The presenter, who joined This Morning in 2009, was given a £200,000 pay rise in 2017 to match Phil’s salary, with the pair both earning a reported £730,000 a year for the gig.
Just this week Kim Woodburn, who claims she previously received ‘unkind’ treatment on the This Morning sofa, labelled Holly a ‘two-faced b***h’.
During an appearance on GB News, she claimed Holly had ‘aided and abetted’ Phil, whom she has previously labelled a ‘horrible man’, until it no longer suited her needs.
She told Dan Wootton: ‘For years [Holly] said “I’ll stick by Phil, I love Phil, we love each other” The moment she knows that bullets are being fired at Phil she’s now saying I’ll work without him, I’ll run the show without him.’
The presenters, who previously gushed about their friendship in public, are said to have dropped plans for their annual holiday together
Kim Woodburn, who appeared on the This Morning sofa following her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother (pictured) last night launched a furious tirade against both Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield
‘What a two-faced b***h. I’ll say what I said the other evening, she’s aided and abetted Phillip for years. She’s sat there and watched Phillip insult people. He was very unkind to me, I’m a tough nut but it hurt.’
‘She’s paid to have a point of view but she’s taken shed loads of money to [giggles] go “Oh Phil.” They need to go.’
Woodburn’s claims come amid reports that, behind the scenes of the sunny daytime television show, Holly is in contract negotiations to save her job and get rid of her co-star.
Earlier this week, sources close to Holly told the Mirror: ‘Holly was considering her position on the show earlier this year, as she couldn’t see Phil being ousted.
‘But that is now a real possibility and she wants to see a decision made on both of their futures quickly. That is what is behind Holly asking her team to reach out to ITV – she is trying to move things forward.
‘There has been no bloodbath meeting yet, but that could well be to come. The sooner it happens, the sooner she can rebrand herself.’
Another source told The Sun: ‘Holly just wants Phil gone.’
The source also claimed that the atmosphere on set has become ‘shocking’, with some believing that mediation would be a good idea.
Holly’s rift with Phil isn’t the first public fall-out she’s had with a pal, after drifting from Dragon’s Den star and multi-millionaire businessman Peter Jones back in 2018.
Holly’s friendship with Dragon’s Den star and businessman Peter Jones (pictured skiing together) was thrown into uncertainty when she pulled out of a lifestyle brand collaboration with him and his wife Tara in 2018
Holly is busy with several pursuits including her own lifestyle brand Wylde Moon which sells scented items including candles
The presenter had teamed up with the businessman’s wife, Tara Cripp, to create the brand in 2016, with Jones coming on board as chairman in March 2018. It was set to rival Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop empire.
But as Holly’s work commitments continued to pile up, including a guest presenting slot on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! while Ant McPartlin was taking time out from work, she sensationally ditched the brand in September 2018, reportedly leaving Jones ‘furious’.
A source told MailOnline at the time: ‘Truly was by far the top of Holly’s priorities. It was going to be her long-term future that would see her through the next couple of decades.
‘Her decision to pull out left everyone involved absolutely stunned. Nobody could believe what was happening on Tuesday, it was so close to the launch.
‘There is a warehouse full of goods at the Marlow HQ which are ready to be sold.’
Holly’s decision risked a decade-long friendship she and her husband Dan Baldwin had shared with Jones and his wife, Tara Cripp.
At the time, experts claimed Holly’s surprise decision to withdraw from Truly would have left the lifestyle brand in trouble, however Jones insisted he would still make a success of it.
But the following year in June 2019, the grim forecasts appeared to ring true when Truly announced it was slashing prices on 94% of its 196-item product range, with an email to subscribers offering reductions of up to 40 per cent on some products.
Just hours after the Truly sale was announced, Holly’s new M&S range, one of the commitments she cited when quitting the partnership with Jones and which PR experts have estimated has earnt her £950,000, was launched.
However, despite being thrown into uncertainty after Holly’s departure, Truly continues to operate in 2023.
Meanwhile, Holly has embarked upon her own lifestyle brand, Wylde Moon, which sells scented products including wax melts and diffusers, with the website also offering customers the chance to purchase Holly’s book Reflections (from which she’s thought to have earnt £1 million).
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk