Holly Willoughby should 'stop picking at stitches' over Phillip Schofield, says expert
07.06.2023 - 13:47
/ ok.co.uk
Holly Willoughby may have "poured petrol" on the scandal surrounding her one-time close friend and former colleague Phillip Schofield, according to an expert. The bubbly This Morning presenter, 42, disappeared from screens for an extended break after Phil, 61, exited the show after more than two decades.
Initially, reports of a "feud" between the pair circulated before it later emerged Phil had an affair with a younger male ITV employee. Upon her return to the hit daytime programme on 5 June, she resumed her presenting duties with an emotional speech that saw her fight back tears.
Sitting beside co-presenter Josie Gibson, 38, Holly said she felt "shaken, troubled, let down and worried" during the last few weeks of controversy. Referring to Phillip's lies about his affair on the show, Holly said: "We gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth." But PR Crisis Comms expert, and CEO of Go Up, Edward Coram-James has said her pre-prepared statement may "have taken a bad situation and made it much, much worse".The expert branded Holly's statement, in which she only named her former colleague Phil once before going on to refer to him in the third person, a "case study of what not to do insofar as crisis comms and reputation management are concerned".
During her address to This Morning viewers, Holly said: "I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal, for the health and wellbeing of everyone." But Edward said by putting a focus on healing shortly after calling out Phil for "not telling the truth", it suggests the "love and support" people had given him was "misplaced" and Holly appeared "to set an aspiration for healing while creating the environment for scrap". Edward said: "There's an old saying
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