Former This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby has announced she feels "safer" as she prepares to launch her new YouTube channel, Together, on July 28, 2026. The 45-year-old TV star said the 2024 plot to kidnap, rape, and murder her put "everything in perspective."
New Career Chapter After Trauma
Gavin Plumb was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years in July 2024 after being convicted of soliciting murder and encouraging or assisting others to rape and kidnap Willoughby. The ordeal, she told Vogue, reshaped her outlook on life and career.
Willoughby left This Morning in October 2023 and ITV's Dancing On Ice, which ended in March 2025. Her new lifestyle channel, Together, will cover practical advice, fashion, beauty, and health, releasing two episodes per week across YouTube, digital streaming platforms, and social media.
On Feeling Safer Online
Speaking about the new platform, Willoughby said: "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." She added that on YouTube, "people find you and come to you because they’re interested in you. I’m not being forced upon anyone."
Reflecting on the kidnap plot, she stated: "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."
Resilience and Life Lessons
Willoughby, a mother of three, acknowledged the difficulty of the past years: "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’."
She said she has learned she is "very resilient" as a result, though she added: "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." She described the experience as "another lesson learned" that makes her "more empathetic to other people in similar situations."
Background: Departure from This Morning
Willoughby's exit from This Morning came months after co-host Phillip Schofield left the show in May 2023 after admitting to an "unwise, but not illegal" affair with a young male colleague. She also fronted ITV's game show You Bet!, but stepped down from its second season due to scheduling conflicts.
Her new channel, Together, premieres on July 28, 2026. She encouraged taking risks: "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?"
