Holly Willoughby has spoken for the first time about her ordeal in which a former security guard was sentenced to life for masterminding a plot to kidnap, rape and murder her.
Gavin Plumb, 37, was found guilty last July of soliciting murder, encouraging or assisting the commission of kidnap, and encouraging or assisting the commission of rape.
Talking to the Times newspaper (paywall), the 43-year-old said of the past year: “It’s been a tough one. There’s no way of sugar-coating it.”
Willoughby stepped down from her role as presenter of ITV’s This Morning programme six days after Plumb was arrested in 2023. She had presented the show for 14 years.
She said: “Nothing can prepare you for something like that. When something like that happens, you have a decision to make. 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 is making a return to television with Celebrity Bear Hunt, a Netflix show she has made with the adventurer Bear Grylls.
When asked if there was a point that the ordeal may have consumed her, she said: “No. It wasn’t an option. For me, it’s just not an option. For all those reasons I’ve said.
“That all means too much to me, to let, you know, that be the other road I could have gone down. And look, so many people go through tough things – they just do.”
She added: “I mean, every single person I speak to, and it seems more and more currently, are going through something, you know?
“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.”
Willoughby’s departure from This Morning marked a turbulent time for the presenter, with her co-host, Phillip Schofield, resigning in 2023 after admitting to an affair with a younger male colleague while he was still married. Schofield described it at the time as an “unwise, but not illegal” affair.
She has tentatively returned to the spotlight in recent months, appearing at the National Television Awards in September and hosting the reboot of You Bet! with Stephen Mulhern.
Willoughby also resumed hosting duties on ITV1’s Dancing on Ice.
When asked if it was terrifying walking away from This Morning, she responded: “That question is wrapped up in so many things that were going on at that time.
“But no. That was the last thing on my mind. The choice [to step away] was really simple and easy, actually.”
