Holly Willoughby made a tearful return to today's edition of This Morning.
It was the first episode of ITV's flagship daytime programme the mum-of-three had fronted since her co-host, Phillip Schofield, dramatically quit ITV. Mr Schofield quit the channel after he admitted having an affair with a younger male colleague.
Holly co-hosted the show alongside Josie Gibson and admitted it was "strange" to be sat without her traditional co-presenter. She was emotional as she opened the show with a monologue addressing the fallout of the past few weeks.
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We have included every word of her opening below. She said: "Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you OK? I hope so. It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil. I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have.
"Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on 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 thought they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process. It is equally hard to see the toll that has taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is the desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone.
"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 the heart, can I say thank you for all of your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning.
"Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison and Craig and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every day to bring you a show that we love. So on that note, Josie."
Josie hugged her co-host before they moved on to today's episode.
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