Holly Willoughby breaks silence on 'tough' year in first interview since twisted failed kidnapping plot
25 January 2025, 19:43
Holly Willoughby has broken her silence on her "tough" experience months after details of a twisted plot to kidnap and murder the TV star emerged.
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The presenter, 43, left ITV This Morning in October 2023 after the grim details of the shocking plot were revealed.
Gavin Plumb, 37, was found guilty of soliciting murder and inciting rape and kidnap after he concocted the evil plan.
It involved seeking out like-minded men to help him stage a ‘home invasion' at Willoughby’s home.
The security guard stalker was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Willoughby waived her right to anonymity in connection with Mr Plumb’s charges.
For the first time, she has now shared how she has coped in the aftermath, admitting it’s been “tough”.
Willoughby told The Sunday Times magazine: "It's been a tough one. There's no way of sugarcoating it."She added:
“Nothing can prepare you for something like that. When something like that happens, you have a decision to make.”While things have been difficult, the presenter is still trying to remain optimistic.
She said: “You either decide, right, I can take this on board and it can absolutely 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.
“I’m healthy and I’m happy. I’ve got a wonderful husband and children and family, I’ve got great friends. You have to go: I choose to positively move forward and rely on all those people — the police, the court, the judge, the jury — all those people to do their role. And that’s what I had to do.”
Willoughby said that she never felt she would crumble as it was "not an option", adding that "so many people go through tough things, they just do".
She noted how "every single person I speak to, and it seems more and more currently, are going through something"."
I think that, although I wouldn't wish what happened to me on anybody at all, sometimes things go wrong, but you have to keep going for it because that's all you can do," she added.
That’s why stepping away from ITV was "really simple and easy", she said, adding that she would "be an idiot if" money was not important to her working in TV.
Willoughby did not discuss Phillip Schofield, with whom she shared a sofa for more than a decade, during the interview.Schofield resigned from ITV in 2023, "over an unwise, but not illegal affair".
