As Holly Willoughby enters her ‘unpolished, raw’ era, she tells Josh Smith about finding resilience in the toughest of times
After being in our living rooms for some 25 years, everyone thinks they know Holly Willoughby. But today, post her Grazia cover shoot, I am greeted by her as you rarely see her – hair in pin curls, glasses on, a cardigan shielding her from the studio’s arctic air conditioning. This isn’t the camera-ready star under the bright lights of live daytime TV – she’s casual, at ease and her guard is down.
It’s this side that the 45-year-old presenter is ready to show the world with her new project, Holly Willoughby Together which launches this month. A multiplatform lifestyle series, it will live on YouTube, Spotify and social platforms, with multiple strands encompassing celebrity interviews, real people’s stories, fashion, food and beauty – but in a more relaxed, less scripted manner than we’re used to.
‘It’s like when people go into the Big Brother house and say, “After three days, you forget the cameras are there!” It’s different from the traditional telly that I’ve been used to, where there’s the red light, a cue and you’re live,’ she says. ‘It’s lovely, because nothing has to be perfect. It’s not polished. It’s quite raw in many ways. I hope it’s got a feel of you’re just hanging out with someone.’
The launch of her new series comes after a well-documented and terrifying ordeal for Willoughby. A few months after stepping away from This Morning in 2023, it emerged that former security guard Gavin Plum was plotting to kidnap, rape and murder her. Plum was later found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
PHOTOGRAPHS AARON CROSSMAN
STYLING ROSIE ARKELL PALMER
Published on 21st July 2026
Hair: Ciler Pekşah using Mermade and Curlsmith
Make-up: Patsy O’Neill using Lisa Eldridge & Suqqu
Nails: Emma Welsh at SB Collective
Shoot Producer: Anna Dewhurst
Photographer’s Assistants: Jem Rigby, Sam Turrell
Digital: Jamie Sinclair
Fashion Assistants: Jack Booth, Liv Bellamy
Editor-in-chief: HATTIE BRETT
creative director: carolyn roberts
Deputy editor: hanna woodsidE
Style Director: Molly HayloR
‘I started my forties very much thinking, “I’ve worked out life now.” Life really sometimes knows how to just kick you up the ass and go, “Hang on a minute,"’ she says. ‘Everybody knows what happened and it was difficult. It was a really difficult time. It did set me back and made me realise, “Right, well of course you haven’t got everything figured out. Of course life is going to keep throwing challenges at you.”’
It’s clear that navigating the last three years has altered her outlook on life – but also emboldened her. The inevitable scrutiny that will come with launching a new project, not to mention experimenting with a new digital-first format, doesn’t faze her.
‘When something like that happens, suddenly everything else gets put into perspective and you know what? I don’t fear what people think because I know what real fear feels like,’ she says. ‘This shouldn’t be scary. This should be something really enjoyable. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But you have to have a go. What’s the other option? Just sitting scared and never doing a thing again?’
‘Not everybody’s gonna like what you do, that’s just a fact. I’m not for everybody,’ she says. ‘On this new platform, people find you and come to you because they’re interested in you. I’m not being forced upon anyone. I actually feel a little bit safer because I’m saying, “I don’t know if I can do this – we’ll all find out together!” In a way, that’s less pressure.’
Willoughby has always been a woman in demand, though, so I wonder how long she pondered her next move. ‘The last three years I’ve been thinking about what I’ve been wanting to do. That question has been in my head for a long time. There have been other shows, there have been documentaries, there have been things slightly different to what I’ve done. But when I looked at them, I was like, “But is that it? Is that the thing that I really, really want to do?”’
It sounds like she has finally learned the power of saying no? ‘I’m very aware how lucky I am that I get to say no,’ she replies. ‘I think you build that up over the passage of time. I was lucky that Dan [her husband of nearly 19 years and producer on the new series] was working and I could take that moment to regroup – and I needed it. I needed that space away. I needed to just immerse myself in my kids and my friends and family. I needed that space in order to know what I actually wanted to do next.’
It’s perhaps not surprising that she ended up taking matters into her own hands and launched her own series rather than submitting to the whims of another broadcaster. Is it empowering to be the boss? ‘It is,’ she admits, while also citing the collaborative effort with her new team, which she proudly tells me is filled with women. ‘I’m not afraid to use my voice any more. When you’re growing up, you’re a bit nervous of the space you take up in the world and I don’t feel like that now.’
I DON’T FEAR WHAT PEOPLE THINK – I KNOW WHAT REAL FEAR FEELS LIKE
Holly Willoughby
Vintage T-shirt, £150, Found & Vision; shorts, £68, Anthropologie; earrings, £89, Pandora; sunglasses, £405, Gucci
Rugby top, £670, and shirt, £340, both Mithridate; shorts, £89, Aligne
Left: Polo shirt, £50, Levi’s; bloomers, £137, The Frankie Shop; necklace, £220, Otiumberg
Right: Shirt, £380, Ami Paris; shorts, £68, Anthropologie; ring, £4,120, Fope
Read more in the latest issue of Grazia magazine
She’s certainly had to push through scary times in the last three years and I wonder what it’s taught her, now she’s out the other side. ‘I’ve learned that I am very resilient,’ she says. ‘And it’s OK to feel bad sometimes. But with all these things it doesn’t last forever and it doesn’t define you. It’s another lesson learned, isn’t it? It’s another life experience that adds another layer and makes you a bit more empathetic to other people in similar situations. Everything in life teaches you something and I definitely had a hard lesson to learn. I’m not going to sit here and go, “I’m so strong now,” because I’m not. But I’m stronger in many ways.’
Stronger and also more stoic, more grounded. ‘The most foolish thing you can tell yourself is that you’re going to get through life unscathed, it’s going to be plain sailing and your career, life, everything, is only going to go on an upward trajectory,’ she adds. ‘Life just doesn’t work like that. I think that it’s really important to not look too far into the future. It’s good to have goals but I don’t think you should attach your wagon to it because it just might come unhitched.’
What has sustained Willoughby throughout has been a close-knit circle of ride-or-dies. ‘My community has literally been quite teeny weeny recently,’ she says. ‘It’s been my mum, my dad, my sister, my niece, my kids, my husband and my close, close friends. That’s been my community and we are rock solid. You know who those people are in your life. They’re the ones that just literally ring your doorbell and say, “Hiya. Wine time?” They’re just there.’
Her fans and well-wishers have shown their support as well. ‘People who I don’t know are my community, too. They’ve been there and pull you through it all,’ she says. With Holly Willoughby Together, she’s looking forward to stepping back into public life and meeting her audience again. ‘It’s got to be a two-way street and, with this project, I’m ready to open the door, the windows, take the roof off, and go, “Right, come on in.”’
‘Holly Willoughby Together’ launches 28 July and is available on YouTube, digital streaming platforms and
social media
HOLLY LETS HER
HAIR DOWN
Jacket, £130, and vest, £27, both Levi’s; jeans, £95, Lee Jeans; necklace, £220, Otiumberg; earrings, Pandora, as before
To get to this point, to find that confidence, has been a learning process, though, particularly after decades spent working in an industry that doesn’t necessarily encourage or value the opinions of women. ‘I remember the first time I stood up for myself; it was after the BRIT Awards in 2018,’ she recalls. ‘Every woman walked the red carpet holding white roses [a symbolic moment that recognised the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement]. I remember coming out of the after-party and going, “Oh my God, there’s a pap on the floor with a camera!” I just thought how nuts it was that we started the night with these white roses, making a statement about female empowerment, and we ended the night that way. The next morning there were all these pictures of us from low-angled lenses.
‘I thought, “Don’t say anything.” And then I thought, “No, actually, I feel really strongly about this. I’m gonna say something.” And I did. It blew my mind because there was a little voice saying, “Don’t. It’ll just ignite something and you’re not prepared for what it’s going to ignite.” Actually, so many people said, “Well done. Thank you for saying this.” Things escalated, other people got involved in it. I remember thinking, “Wow, OK, so you can use your voice. And sometimes you can use your voice to do great things, even if it’s scary.”
‘I’M NOT
AFRAID TO
USE MY
VOICE ANY
MORE’