I wasn’t sure I’d ever be back, admits Holly Willoughby as she reveals how horrific kidnap & rape plot derailed her life

IT’S been two years since Holly Willoughby made a TV show – and at one point she thought her career in the public eye was over for good. After a plot by a security guard to kidnap, rape and murder the presenter was uncovered in 2023, she quit ITV’s This Morning and virtually disappeared from prime-time terrestrial telly. Holly Willoughby is launching a new lifestyle YouTube channel after retreating the limelight following a plot to kidnap, rape and murder her Credit: PA In an exclusive chat, Holly says she now ‘feels good’ and is ‘ready’ to make a return Credit: PA Now Holly, 45, is preparing to launch a lifestyle channel called Together on YouTube and she is a whirl of excitement and nerves. On retreating from the spotlight after 14 years on the show, ­following Phillip Schofield’s shock departure, she said: “If I’m being really honest, everybody knows what happened to me . . . and I just needed time out. “I needed to go, ‘Do you know, I need to park all of that. I’m just going to spend time with my family and my friends and see how I am and see what happens. And then when it feels right I’ll go back’. “But there was a time when I wasn’t sure whether that would ever be a thing.” She added that “it certainly wasn’t a given” she would step in front of the camera again. Holly was rocked to her core by the chilling plot, which saw Gavin Plumb sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 16 years in July 2024. She gave a victim impact statement to the court, which wasn’t made public, but prosecutors said the consequences for Holly were “catastrophic”. The threat to her life was all the more shocking due to its timing. Holly, who has three children with her TV producer husband Dan ­Baldwin, said: “When I first got into my forties I was like, ‘This is going to be the decade of me having my life sorted’ and it was like, ‘Oh no, hang on. Life has a different plan for me’. “What I’ve learned is that you never know where life’s going to go and neither should you really. “You should just go along with it and see what happens. Holly used the last two years to have, what she calls, ‘a reset’ Credit: PA Holly has only taken on a few projects since leaving This Morning Credit: Rex “I feel good now, though. I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t. This is a really good sign that I feel ready.” In the months before Plumb was convicted, Holly flew to Costa Rica to film Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt, one of the few projects she has taken on since leaving This Morning. The survival contest, co-hosted by Bear Grylls, aired in February 2025, but it didn’t land well with viewers and hasn’t been commissioned for a second series. She also appeared on the first series of ITV’s rebooted You Bet! with best pal Stephen Mulhern, though she didn’t return for the now defunct gameshow’s second series. Holly used the last two years to have, what she calls, “a reset” — though the next chapter in her career was always in the back of her mind. She recalls: “I was thinking, ‘When the time is right, what could I do next? What direction do I want to go in?’ At the time I didn’t know, genuinely. “Different things would come along and they never felt quite right. “Sometimes I thought, ‘Maybe I should just do this, because it’s been a while’. “You always have this thing where people look at you like, ‘What are you doing now?’ and it’s sort of curbing other people’s expectations. But I just thought, ‘No, I really need to listen to myself and just pause everything’.” When she finally felt ready to consider a return, Holly adopted some radical thinking along with ­husband Dan. Gavin Plumb was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 16 years Credit: PA Holly’s A-list pals will appear on her show Credit: Getty They turned to YouTube after recognising how their children, aged 11, 15 and 17, were consuming media in drastically different ways to older generations. In the past year, digital streaming platforms surpassed traditional broadcast and cable TV in total viewership. Holly points to the success of former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker and radio DJ Zane Lowe since leaving the BBC and tapping into streaming services. She admits she app-roached the project somewhat tentatively, though, and has had to “be a little bit braver” than she has been in the past. Holly said: “When we eventually started talking about potentially doing something on ­YouTube I was like, ‘So how would that work? What is that?’ I mean, I knew what YouTube was! But how would I work on there? What would still feel like me but in this new space? Would anybody watch it? “And the answer to all that is, ‘I still don’t know . . . but we’ll find out’.” Holly Willoughby Together is being produced by Dan’s company, Hungry Bear, and the format is, it has to be said, similar to This Morning as it covers topics such as cookery, fashion, beauty and real-life stories. She is also enlisting the help of a string of celebrity pals including ­singers Emma Bunton and Nicole Appleton, comedian Joanne McNally and movie star Stanley Tucci. Holly doesn’t appear to be phased by the inevitable comparisons to her former ITV show, but insists Together will “feel different”. She said: “I think [viewers] are used to seeing me in that space, so I think they will automatically feel like that. Holly Willoughby Together is being produced by Dan’s company, Hungry Bear Credit: Getty – Contributor Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt didn’t land well with viewers and hasn’t been commissioned for a second series Credit: Getty “I was myself on This Morning and I feel like I am still myself now. And when you’re on that show you are a big part of that show. So I can understand why they might see those similarities. But the feeling of Together is slightly different. “I certainly think it’s got a different feel anyway. “I know what you’re saying because it’s me, albeit in a different place. But it has a different tone. “There isn’t a cue. On a set there’s a cue and it’s like, ‘Hello and welcome to . . . ’ and you go into ­presenter mode.” The set-up of Together, which will begin with two episodes dropping each week, sees Holly in a purpose-built studio. But that’s where the ­similarities with This Morning end. It looks like an open-plan apartment where she moves from a lounge to a kitchen, either cooking or interviewing, or trying on clothes and sampling make-up. “That was the first thing I wanted to get right,” she said. “I kind of wanted it to feel like the inside of my head. I wanted to walk in and it feels like home. “The kitchen is just there and everything just works. It’s not like a set where sometimes things don’t actually work. Holly Willoughby with The Sun’s Rod McPhee Credit: Supplied “I just want it to be functional and comfortable, just a lovely space.” A teaser compilation video, shown at Together’s official launch yesterday, showed a space where people “pop in” to make a cake, or to try out some sportswear or talk about a life-changing experience. First impressions suggest it is less of a TV studio and more like a crash pad where Holly is having one long pyjama party with friends. She said: “The moment you walk into that room, you’re kind of on. It’s almost like Big Brother and you almost quickly forget that the ­cameras are there. “As a viewer, you’re just watching something happening and you’re actually immersed in ­something. That’s why I want people to see this quite quickly because I could tell you about it, and you’d go, ‘What a load of bulls**t!’ “But when you see it, you’ll hopefully say, ‘Oh, OK . . . I get it now.” Holly Willoughby Together launches on her YouTube channel on July 28.