Holly Willoughby has described the moment she came face-to-face with her first boyfriend during a television appearance as "terrifying" and revealed her husband was behind the plan.
The former This Morning star was a guest on Michael McIntyre's Big Show, produced by her husband Dan Baldwin. During the show, she played 'Remember Me', where celebrities are reunited with people from their past to see if they recall how they know them.
Among the surprise guests was her first childhood boyfriend, Oliver, who produced a love note she had written to him. In it she declared her love and "hoped" he loved her too, with a reference to a "naked woman" and sealed with a lipstick kiss. As the note was read aloud, Willoughby buried her face in her hands, calling the moment "awkward".
'I just wanted to die'
Appearing on Sara Cox's BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Tuesday, the 45-year-old confessed the segment was "terrifying". "I don't remember anything, I literally don't, it's awful," she said. Willoughby then revealed her husband was "very much a part" of arranging the reunion. "I think it was actually his idea in making that happen," she told listeners. "So, he just sat in the gallery giggling away. I mean, that really took me by surprise, especially when Oliver brought out a love note that I had written, I just wanted to die."
Reflecting on the letter's contents, she added: "I still don't know what [the naked woman mention] was about. And then I sort of like kissed this note, but I obviously tried to do it in a really, kind of, gorgeous girly way, a lipstick kiss, but it looked like I just wiped my mouth with it. It was not good, I was very young." She noted they were about 11 years old at the time.
New YouTube project
Willoughby's husband, whom she married in 2007 and shares three children with, has also produced her new YouTube programme, Holly Willoughby Together. The series is her first solo project since leaving This Morning in 2023 after 14 years. Her exit followed her being the alleged target of a kidnap and murder plot by Gavin Plumb, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years.
At the time she said: "It's been an honour to just be part of its story and I know this story has many chapters left to go. Sadly, however, I now feel I have to make this decision for me and my family. I will miss you all so much." Launching the opening episode of her new YouTube programme today, she said: "I'm so proud of the work all the team who make Together have put into this exciting new project. We've had a lot of fun developing it and look forward to seeing what you think."
