Once upon a time, everything seemed to be going right for Holly Willoughby. She had a glittering reign as TV’s golden girl - including co-hosting This Morning - a thriving business capitalising on her trend-setting powers and an idyllic family life as mother to three young children.
However, Holly, 44, has recently been through a rocky three years, which has shaken her both personally and professionally. Being forced to navigate a foiled kidnap and murder plot, the unceremonious end to her solid daytime presenting gig and - this week - a car accident that has seen her plead guilty.
While the star may be continuing to put on a brave face - posting smiling, glossy snaps to her eight million followers on Instagram - here’s what she has been simultaneously contending with behind closed doors…
Queue-jumping accusations
Things first started going south for Holly back in September 2022 when, along with then This Morning co-host Phillip Schofield, she was accused of skipping the queue to see the late Queen lying in state at Westminster Abbey. There was, as the BBC reported, "outrage" given that members of the public - and David Beckham no less - had had to spend hours waiting for their chance.
The upset was enough to prompt This Morning to come to the presenting duo's defence. "We asked Phillip and Holly to be part of a film for this Tuesday's programme," the ITV show shared in a statement. "They did not jump the queue, have VIP access or file past the Queen lying in state - but instead were there in a professional capacity as part of the world's media to report on the event."
This Morning fallout
By May 2023, there were reports of tension between Holly and Phillip on set - despite them having maintained that they were close friends, as well as colleagues, for many years. The "rift", according to Sky News, came as a result of what he later described as an "unwise, but not illegal" relationship with a younger male member of staff on the programme.
Phillip departed the show later that month after speculation continued. In a post on Instagram shortly afterwards, Holly accused him of lying to her: "When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It's been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie." She returned to the sofa in June, after a two-week break, telling viewers she felt "shaken, troubled, let down".
Kidnap and murder plot
Holly spent several months hosting This Morning with a roster of co-presenters - including Alison Hammond, Josie Gibson, Dermot O'Leary and Ben Shephard. However, she herself quit the show in October 2023 after 14 years "for me and my family".
Her departure came after she had been unexpectedly away from the programme for a week when Gavin Plumb was charged with plotting to kidnap, rape and murder her. He was handed a life sentence in July 2024 following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, which heard how he had sent videos and voice notes to an undercover detective - that included detailed knowledge about security at her home, and the outline of a plan to attack her and husband Dan Baldwin while they were sleeping.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC described evidence of "degradation that was so depraved and vile that they were, by agreement, not reported in detail by representatives of the media". She added that it had been "life-changing for the victim…both in private and personal terms and, indeed, professionally. The extent of the shock and fear of this offending has been impossible to convey".
Speaking to The Sunday Times in January, Holly said: "It's been a tough one. There's no way of sugarcoating it." She added that she could have let the case "affect all aspects of my life, or I can make a choice to go, let's focus on everything that's positive and good, all those important things".
Successive career bumps
Holly returned to presenting duties at the start of this year with Dancing On Ice, this time hosting the competition alongside Stephen Mulhern. However, she was dealt another professional blow when it was announced in March that the show was being cancelled after 20 years due to falling viewing figures.
The star is currently without a main presenting role for the first time in two decades after Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt was scrapped after one season and she quit You Bet! in March. According to Metro, she has been working on a big TV comeback, engineered by producer husband Dan - who she married in 2007, and with whom she shares children Harry, 16, Belle, 14, and Chester, 10.
Things have also been trying at the lifestyle brand, Wylde Moon, that Holly launched to much fanfare in 2021. In April, the Daily Mail reported that finance director Vicky Staines - considered one of her "closest and most trusted allies" - had resigned.
Horrific road accident
Holly was this week fined in court after she pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention when her car collided with a moped. She was at the wheel of her Mini Cooper in Barnes, near her Richmond home, in August when she injured the rider - who broke his neck and had to be taken to hospital.
The star has been told to pay £1,653 and was given six points on her licence, as per a statement by the Metropolitan Police. Aisling Byrnes, the lawyer defending Holly in court, said: "She was traumatised to find she had caused this accident.”