This Morning host Holly Willoughby has leapt to the defence of her 'TV husband' Phillip Schofield after former ITV host Eamonn Holmes comments seemed to be "below the belt".
62-year-old Eamonn Holmes spoke to the Daily Mail for their weekend supplements, and claimed that Phillip was "renowned for snubbing people" - after rumours circulated of a feud between the This Morning host and Eamonn, as well as his wife Ruth Langsford, 61, as reported by OK! Magazine.
However, a source has said that Holly has felt the need to "defend" her co-host during his 40-year anniversary on television.
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The source has said: "Phil's This Morning family are rallying around him after the comments, none more so than Holly.
"Despite not always seeing eye to eye, Holly knows she owes a lot to Phil and she'll always be grateful for the way he took her under his wing when she first joined This Morning and how he fought for her to be his co-presenter on the show.
"It's no secret there is no love lost between Phil and Eamonn but Holly felt she had to defend her 'work husband' after all the support he's shown her over the years, particularly on the week he celebrated 40 years in showbiz.
"She thought the comments were very below the belt."
During the controversial interview, Eamonn was asked about a clip where Phillip cut off his wife Ruth on Loose Women via a live link.
He replied: "Phillip is renowned for snubbing people.
"He's very passive-aggressive. It's up to Ruth to say how she felt, but I was feeling hurt for her. No one would have snubbed me like that.
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"I have a good Belfast street fighter in me… I would be direct. I don't go for presenters who think they have a special privilege or aura or influence."
In a video to congratulate Phillip on his 40-year stint on television, Holly said: "Without a doubt, it if wasn't for you, there is no way that I'd be doing This Morning today and I came onto the show and I was green and new.
"I knew how to do a bit of telly because I'd done Saturday morning but This Morning is a huge, grown-up, important, big telly show and I just sat there like a sponge and absorbed everything and learn everything.
"[Phillip is] so generous, so kind, so patient, willing to guide me through.
"He still does it now, I'll still look at him and go, 'You do this bit,' and he never looks at me like, 'Really? Come on.'"
