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Holly Willoughby drops out of 'This Morning' after sharing heartbreaking family news

Holly Willoughby shared some heartbreaking news on Instagram
Holly Willoughby shared some heartbreaking news on Instagram

Holly Willoughby dropped out of This Morning today after sharing the sad news that her grandmother has passed away.

Rylan Clark-Neal stepped in for Willoughby, presenting alongside Phillip Schofield.

Willoughby took to Instagram earlier today to pay tribute to her grandmother, posting an image of the two of them smiling together.

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She captioned it: “Today we say goodbye for a little while to my beautiful Nan… go and be with Grandad… he’s been waiting for you… love you… miss you…”

It was announced last week that Willoughby would be taking time off the show, but no reason was given at the time.

The presenter has received hundreds of supportive messages from followers, with almost 130,000 people liking the post (at the time of writing).

One user of the social network site wrote: “So sorry to hear of your loss,” while another added: “My sincere condolences to you and your family, Holly. It’s so heartbreaking when you loose a loved one.”

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Also last week, Willoughby found herself presenting an episode of This Morning alone as regular co-host Phillip Schofield called in sick.


“Welcome to Thursday’s This Morning. You may have noticed that I’m all by myself,” she began.

“Phillip is not well today so we’re wishing him lots of love and hope that’s he’s better soon” she explained before revealing how she couldn’t bear to sit in his seat.

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“It’s so weird, I came and sat here and I sat in his chair and it didn’t seem right to sit in his chair. This is very strange,” she added.

Willoughby’s solo presenting gig comes as a surprise as a member of the This Morning family are usually called in as a last minute stand-in.