Reports suggest that Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield's friendship ended after the March 8 episode this year. Phil and Holly went past the point of any return on International Women's Day, according to the Mail Online's Dan Wootton, Birmingham Live reports.
Dan reports Holly "decided that there should be an all-female presenting line-up to mark the occasion" but Phil "went over her head" to ITV bosses to stop it. Wootton, the GB News star, writes: "As a result, Holly was only allowed to host the first section of the show surrounded by the show's female production staff, while Phillip was dispatched to a café down the road for a live item.
"Holly was livid about [Emma] Gormley's [Managing Director, ITV Daytime] decision and the fact Phillip had undermined her, and made that very clear to numerous people at ITV. It was the first real sign to This Morning staff that their relationship had fractured and Holly wanted to step out of Phillip's shadow."
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Schofield issued a statement confirming his exit on Saturday. “I understand that ITV has decided the current situation can’t go on, and I want to do what I can to protect the show that I love. So I have agreed to step down from This Morning with immediate effect, in the hope that the show can move forward to a bright future,” he said.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me – especially This Morning’s amazing viewers – and I’ll see you all for the Soap Awards next month,” he then added. This Morning has replaced Phil and Holly with Alison Hammond this week.
Taking to Instagram, Willoughby posted a statement on her story following Schofield's announcement that he will step down from the daytime TV programme after more than 20 years.
"It's been over 13 great years presenting This Morning with Phil and I want to take this opportunity to thank him for all of his knowledge, his experience and his humour," she wrote. "The sofa won't feel the same without him."
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