Yahoo News This Morning: Holly Willoughby to return today with Josie Gibson as co-presenter
Holly Willoughby return to the ITV morning show on Monday
Holly Willoughby will return to host This Morning on Monday, 5 June, with Josie Gibson as her co-presenter, it has been confirmed.
Willoughby has been absent from This Morning ever since Phillip Schofield announced he was was stepping down from the ITV daytime show.
The 42-year-old mother-of-three always takes the school holidays off work, and has spent half-term with Harry, 14, Belle, 12, and Chester, eight and their dog Bailey.
While Willoughby was off screen Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary held down the fort on the This Morning sofa.
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But the star of Dancing On Ice and Celebrity Juice is due back to present the show herself on Monday, following Schofield's confessional interview with the BBC. At the end of the Friday, 2 June This Morning, Hammond, signed off saying: "Holly will be back on Monday with Josie."
Former Big Brother star Josie Gibson has been a guest presenter on This Morning since 2019.
Willoughby has become used to keeping her smile in place as she presents live to the nation under abject scrutiny, and when she does return her every move will be under minute analysis.
Schofield apologised to Willoughby for lying to her about his relationship when he spoke to The Sun.
He said: “I’ve lost my best friend. I let her (Holly) down. I let that entire show down. I let the viewers down.
“Holly did not know (about the affair) and she was one of the first texts that I sent, to say: ‘I am so, so sorry that I lied to you’.
“She didn’t reply and I understand why she didn’t reply, as well. So yeah. If anyone is in any way linking Holly to this; that is absolutely, wholly untrue.”
Eamonn Holmes has called Willoughby "false" and claimed Willoughby's friendship with Hammond wasn't real, and that there was "very little contact" between them.
It will be the first time Willoughby has appeared on TV since Schofield, 61, quit the show following long-running rumours of a feud between the pair.
Willoughby issued a statement on her Instagram stories saying: "When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not.
Read more: This Morning: Who are the favourites to replace Phillip Schofield?
"It's been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie."
She added it had "taken time to process" Schofield's confession.
Pictures and videos have since emerged of Willoughby and Schofield with his younger lover.
Since Schofield confession and resignation, he has said in a statement: “Now I no longer work on @thismorning I am free to say this. I hope you have noticed that it’s the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.
“This Morning is the best show to work on, with the best people. In all the years I worked there there was no toxicity."
But Holmes, who used to work alongside Willoughby and Schofield at This Morning, has claimed: "It's a total cover-up.
Read more: Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: Their on-screen history together
"Those in authority had to know what was going on and they thought they would dodge a bullet with this which they do and they do constantly."
Watch: Timeline of Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield's rift
