Holly Willoughby has recalled a mortifying wardrobe malfunction that occurred during a live children's television broadcast in the early 2000s, which she says led to her appearing on page three of The Sun.
The 45-year-old presenter made the revelation on the latest episode of her YouTube series, Holly Willoughby Together, where she was joined by Spice Girls singer Emma Bunton and All Saints star Nicola Appleton.
On-air mishap
Willoughby, who began her career as a children's TV presenter before becoming known for shows such as Dancing On Ice, This Morning, Celebrity Juice and The Voice UK, described the incident as a "bad incident" while presenting a children's programme.
She said someone had come onto the show to hypnotise the boy band Blue, instructing them to dance around and copy Willoughby when they woke up. She explained: "As far as I'm concerned, they were definitely hypnotised. I stood up and I was really like going for it and as I looked down, the strap on my top had broken, and my left boob was swinging."
"But we were still live and I knew it happened and we had an ad break and I came off air and I was like, 'tell me you didn't see that!' And they were like, 'We can't. We're not going to lie to you. We did see it'."
Page three appearance
Willoughby added: "And then The Sun put me on page three the next day. So I've been a page three girl with my boob out."
In the same episode, Emma Bunton shared her own embarrassing moment involving Madonna. Bunton said: "I remember looking out to the crowd, and Madonna was watching us. So I was literally at this moment looking at her, like 'Madonna's in the crowd!' And then I fell over. Fell in front of Madonna. I mean, that is one of the most embarrassing things that's ever happened to me."
Willoughby stepped down from This Morning in 2023 after 14 years, shortly after it was revealed that her co-presenter Phillip Schofield had an "unwise but otherwise legal" affair with a younger colleague. She later returned to present the last series of Dancing On Ice with Stephen Mulhern, before the show ended after its 19-year run. She has since launched her YouTube channel for a lifestyle series.
