Holly Willoughby was emotional as she told viewers of Monday's episode of This Morning that she's been left "shaken, troubled, let down and worried" by the recent issues with Phillip Schofield.
It was the presenter's first day back at work since she took an extended half-term break after Schofield's shock exit from ITV and admission that he'd had an affair with a much younger male employee on the ITV show. Holly was joined by Josie Gibson for hosting duties as she faced the cameras for the first time since Schofield quit. At the top of the show, Holly, struggled to hold back the tears as she addressed fans directly in a statement.
But some fans were not impressed with Holly's words, with some accusing her of "throwing Phil under the bus" and now a leading body language expert has told the Mirror she believes the speech was "inauthentic", as writes the Mirror.
Mamta Saha, a British Psychological Society-accredited analyst, reckons Holly's speech came across as not authentic from the outset, starting with the exhale at the beginning.
Mamta said: "Holly's message comes across as inauthentic. Her exhalation at the start is just not long enough for someone who claims to have been impacted by all of this.
"Her tonality is not pitched deep enough for the message to be deemed as coming from the heart. Her eyes along with her facial expressions do not align with the words she is saying."
Holly escaped the drama unfolding at her workplace in the UK by heading to Portugal on holiday with her family.
She returned for work on Monday as she opened the show by saying: "Firstly, are you okay? I hope so. It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil.
"And 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."
But body language expert Mamta cuts in here to say: "There is clear incongruence in the words she is saying and how she is relaying these messages.
"She doesn't pause long enough when she asks, 'How are you?' to the audience. She is rushed to get it over and done with.
"She refers to Phil as 'their, they' - she is detached and not using Phil's name. I can pick up on her extremely high levels of discomfort and angst with this whole situation and she wants to make it clear she is separate from it."
Holly went on: "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 that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process.
"And it's equally hard to see the toll that it's taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is a 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."
"And from my own heart, can I just 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 on this show will continue to work hard every single day to bring you the show that we love."
But, addressing Holly's conclusion to her statement, Mamta said it "belittles" the connection she claimed to have with Phillip.
She added: "She relaxes as she talks about the 'warmth and magic' that she wants to get back to - clearly this is where she is most comfortable.
"Her eyes are strong and when she is hugged by Josie she expresses no emotion, only a couple of quick 'thank you's' in order to usher Josie to hurry up and move on."
The Sun reported that Schofield had made it known he wouldn't be watching Willoughby's return to screen, with a friend telling the publication he "physically could not watch - he's not there yet".
Holly Willoughby declined to comment.
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