ITV's This Morning reportedly lost over 200,000 viewers immediately after Holly Willoughby gave her highly-anticipated comeback statement where she addressed Phillip Schofield's affair with a younger male colleague.
On Monday morning, Holly, 42, appeared back on the This Morning couch after a two-week break which saw her former co-host, Phillip, 61, step down from his role as host of the ITV morning programme, and later all of his ITV duties after confessing to having an affair with his young colleague.
Addressing the scandal for the very first time, Holly wore all white and appeared unusually stoic as she was supported by This Morning regular, Josie Gibson, before finally reading her public statement on the future of the show without Phil.
Holly opened the show with a statement asking if the viewers themselves were okay, before saying it felt ‘very strange indeed’ being there without Phillip.
During the speech - which has since been heavily criticised by several famous faces including MP's - Holly said that she felt ‘shaken' 'troubled' and 'let down,’ by her former friend and co-host Phillip, to whom she had given 'love and support to someone who was not telling the truth.’
"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," Holly said.
"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 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," she added in her speech.
Following Holly's speech, new figures have now revealed audiences flocked to the show to watch her highly-anticipated speech, but switched off as soon as it ended.
A whopping total of 1,633,410 tuned in to watch Holly address Phil's sudden departure from This Morning.
However, almost 200,000 viewers switched off once the statement was done and once the show continued as normal.
Holly had not spoken of Phillip's affair or his betrayal to her since she posted an Instagram story last week addressing the fallout.
"It’s taken time to process yesterday’s news. When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not," she wrote at the time.
"It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie."
Phillip has since admitted in his sit-down interview with the BBC that he has reached out to Holly via text message, but she has not responded.
Still, he is hopeful that they will one day be friends again.
The Mirror has contacted an ITV spokesperson for comment.
