Holly Willoughby finally returned to This Morning today after the ITV show was marred by scandal over the past two weeks.
The 42-year-old finally addressed Phillip Schofield's controversial departure from ITV after 21 years - and 14 years of working with Holly on This Morning - following his admission that he had an affair with a younger male ITV colleague.
Schofield admitted last week that he had sexual relations with the man he first met at theatre school at the age of 15 after helping him get into TV with a job on This Morning. The presenter said a romantic relationship bet ween the two began in his dressing room when the man was 20 years old - which he kept hidden from his work mates, family and wife Stephanie Lowe.
After Phil had his say, Holly released a statement of her own saying that she was "hurt" that she had been lied to. It came after Phil first quit This Morning following rumours of a feud between them.
Speaking to the Mirror, body language expert Judi James has suggested that Holly's "perfectly-formed" speech was delivered with "survivors" in mind.
She also referred to her gripping Josie's hand, which saw her "find strength" in her colleague - though some of her gestures were very much from the "political handbook of body language"...
"This small-but-perfectly-formed speech from Holly was delivered in the theme that we are all survivors and that we, like Holly, will be feeling shaken and troubled," Judi tells us.
"Sitting small and rather fragile next to a looming, protective Josie, Holly moved from empathy mode to Biblical to political, talking about ‘What unites us is a desire to heal’ and that we would find ‘Strength in each other’.
"She found her strength in Josie, holding her hand more than once and submitting to a demanded hug from Josie at the end, which was probably meant to be a virtual group hug with the viewers.
"Holly’s gesture of placing both hands on her heart is very much from the political handbook of body language, suggesting love, trust and honour.
"She patted Josie in their hug to signal to break and then it was a toss of the head and her perky smile was back in place as she moved to get on with the rest of the show."
*This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV
