'Right, deep breath.' Holly Willoughby addresses the Phillip Schofield drama on live TV.

Holly Willoughby has made her first appearance on This Morning since her former co-host Phillip Schofield resigned.  

Returning to the breakfast show after two weeks off, Willoughby, 42, said she felt "shaken, troubled, let down".

Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV last month after news he was having an affair with a younger male colleague came to light. 

Watch: Phillip Schofield's first interview since the affair came out. Post continues after video.

On Monday morning's show, Willoughby began with an emotional statement delivered to camera addressing the scandal.

"Right, deep breath," she began. "It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil."

"I imagine you might have been feeling a lot like I have: shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people from all sides of what’s been going on, and full of questions.

"You, me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved.

"That is a lot to process, and it is equally hard to see the toll it has taken on their own mental health."

"I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal, and for the health and wellbeing of everyone," Willoughby continued. 

"I hope that, as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that this show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.

"From my heart, can I just say thank you for all of the kind messages. Thank you for being here this morning."

Willoughby hugged co-host Josie Gibson as she finished.

"All we can be now is the family that we are," Gibson said.

"Exactly," Willoughby replied.

Image: ITV.

Schofield announced he was departing This Morning last month, effective immediately.

"I have always been proud to cover fascinating stories on This Morning. But recently, This Morning itself has become the story," he said. 

"I understand that ITV has decided the current situation can't go on, and I want to do what I can to protect the show that I love. So I have agreed to step down from This Morning with immediate effect, in the hope that the show can move forward to a bright future."

After resigning from the network, Schofield admitted to having an affair with a younger male employee.

Schofield was still married to his wife Stephanie Lowe at the time of the relationship. They separated in 2020 after he came out as gay.

In a statement, he said he was "so, very, very sorry" for being unfaithful to his wife, and for lying to his colleagues, agents, employers, friends, the media and the public.

The TV host said he would reflect on his "very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it".

"Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over," he said.

"When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody 'forced' me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me.

"In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven't been truthful about the relationship. But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions that have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now."

Soon after Phillip confirmed the affair, Willoughby released a statement of her own.

"When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not," she said on Instagram stories. 

"It's been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie."

Read more on this topic here: 

• 'It's been very hurtful.' The Phillip and Holly morning telly drama just got even more complicated.
• 'I did not groom him.' Phillip Schofield has given his first interview since his 'affair' scandal.
• In 2008, Phillip Schofield interviewed Kerry Katona. She says it left her 'suicidal'.

Feature image: ITV.

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