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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Susan Knox

Kim Woodburn insists Holly Willoughby 'won't have any choice' but to quit This Morning

Kim Woodburn has insisted that Holly Willoughby will be the next to announced her resignation from This Morning after her former co-star, Phillip Schofield, stepped down from hosting duties after a 21-year reign on the ITV show.

Phillip, 61, announced his departure from This Morning last week amid ongoing rumours of a feud with Holly, who he presented alongside for over 13 years.

But just one week later, Phillip has since been dropped by his talent agency YMU after confessing to an affair, which was not illegal, with a much younger male member of staff at This Morning.

He has also stepped down from ITV completely – meaning he will no longer host the British Soap Awards next week.

Holly has since broken her silence, insisting that she knew nothing about the affair having asked Phillip amid ongoing rumours in ITV in recent years.

Kim Woodburn says Holly Willoughby will be next to go on This Morning and 'won't have a choice' (GC Images)
Holly has claimed she knew nothing about Phillip's affair with the This Morning runner (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

The This Morning star, 42, who is taking some time away from the show and is thought to be on holiday in the Algarve, released a statement on Saturday night addressing the growing controversy.

“It has taken some time to process yesterday’s news," Holly wrote.

"When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie," she added.

Following Holly's statement, Kim Woodburn has hit out at the This Morning host as her future on the show hangs in the balance.

Kim has insisted that Holly has been tarnished by her friendship with Phillip and that she needs to quit the show too.

The TV legend had already hit out at the pair last week, branding Phil an 'obnoxious, horrible man,' and Holly a 'two-faced b***h' - and now she has lashed out again.

Speaking to GB News, Kim said: "The game's up. Everything's out about him. It's all been exposed. He's gone.

"Now, the only thing I'm praying and hoping is that young Miss Holly Willoughby has the common sense to go.”

“She cannot continue. You think of Phil, you think of Holly. All these years she's worked with him. She's heard him be rude in front of people.

Kim says that Holly should have told Phillip to stop being rude to guests (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

"She's seen him on the sofa upsetting people. She’s never once pulled him up on it.

"She should’ve told him to stop.”

In another interview, while speaking to Gaydio, Kim shared that she 'didn’t feel sorry' for Schofield and thought he'd had the This Morning gig for 'too long'.

"Give it to somebody else who is nice and friendly. When somebody is rude and nasty and vicious, which he’s been with me, I can’t feel sorry for him," she insisted.

"He’s had 20-odd years of earning over £1 million a year. He’s had the job too long."

She also reiterated that she believes it's time for Holly, 42, to leave the daytime show, as she explained: "I don’t think she will have a choice. She isn’t as nice as she makes out."

Her outspoken outburst didn't stop there as she also added that Holly had 'plotted' to get rid of her ITV co-star: "When he is being rude to people she never once told him he was being nasty and she lets him do it and she aides and abets him.

"I think she should go, and I think she will go."

It comes as Nadine Dorries has also called for a probe into the complaints against Phillip Schofield, claiming that Holly Willoughby also has many questions to answer.

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg's show on the BBC, Nadine said: "The fact that Phillip Schofield has made a rather grovelling apology to the Daily Mail in the form of an email, there seems to be this understanding that, 'That's it now, everything will move on.'

"But it's not the case, I'm afraid, because what it actually does is open up more questions as to what happened.

"We know that there were complaints lodged with ITV over a long period of time. What happened to those complaints?

Holly's friendship with Phil has come to an abrupt end after 13 years (ITV)

"I think the editor of the programme, Martin Frizell, has some questions to answer himself, and I'm afraid so does Holly Willoughby."

The former Culture Secretary also called Phillip Schofield a 'bully' as she accused him of being 'aggressive' throughout his 21-year reign on This Morning.

Ms Dorries claimed: "I just found him to be quite bullying in his attitude towards the co-host who was standing in for Holly Willoughby. And that made me feel more uncomfortable than answering the questions.

"When the camera was on me and I was talking, he started aggressively jabbing at the script with his hands so the pages were rattling and the co-presenter looked terrified."

Ms Dorries' calls for a probe comes after Phillip's bombshell confession to having an affair with a much younger member of ITV staff while he was still married.

Phillip, 61, has since been dropped by his talent agency YMU after the affair, which was not illegal, came to light. He has also stepped down from ITV completely – meaning he will no longer host the British Soap Awards next week.

In a bombshell statement, which can be read here in full, Phillip admitted the affair but refused to name his former colleague, with whom he had a relationship with.

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