Vanessa Feltz has stuck up for Holly Willoughby after sharing a text the This Morning host sent her amid the Phillip Schofield drama.
Holly, 42, has come under fire since her infamous 'Are you ok?" speech last week when she returned to the show following a two-week break.
Former Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner said she was 'nowhere near as nice as she used to be' while others dismissed Holly's response to Phil's affair as disingenuous.
Vanessa, 61, was dealing with her own drama as she revealed she'd been groped by late paedophile Rolf Harris live on TV, but was quick to defend the Wylde Moon guru, who she said checked in on her.
Insisting Holly is a "really nice, good natured, kind, sweet person" Vanessa told OK! Magazine viewers: "All of this was going on, and then Rolf Harris died.
"I was asked about the fact [Harris] sexually assaulted me live on TV, and so I told the story again.
"And then I got a message from Holly just saying, “Are you OK? It must be really hard for you to talk about it. Are you alright?”’
"I said, “Of course I’m fine. You know it was a long time ago. In fact, I was even fine at the time – I was married with two kids, I wasn’t a child, I was perfectly able to deal with it. More to the point, how are you?”’
Vanessa said she was "honoured" to call Holly her friend and just felt sorry for anyone ‘implicated’ by what’s happened.
However, the mum-of-three has been criticised for her conduct on This Morning, with celebrities such as Eamonn Holmes suggesting she would do 'anything to protect her brand.'
He also accused Holly of faking her friendship with co-host Alison Hammond in a no holds barred interview on GB News.
Last Monday, Holly 'took a deep breath' before saying: "“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.”
