Vanessa Feltz has defended her This Morning colleague Holly Willoughby following Phillip Schofield's departure from the ITV programme and Jason Gardiner's recent rant about her.
In recent weeks, This Morning viewers have watched Holly and Phillip's 15-year-long friendship before their eyes after Phil, 61, confessed to having an affair with a much younger work colleague while he was still married.
For months on end, rumours were rife of a rift between Holly, 42, and Phillip, but it all came to a head last month when Phil resigned before admitting to having an affair while Holly was taking some time away from This Morning.
In a statement posted to her Instagram after Phil's confession, Holly insisted that she knew nothing of the affair and felt 'let down' by someone who she thought was her friend.
And when she made her long-awaited This Morning comeback last week, Holly was slammed by thousands of viewers who claimed she was 'insincere' in her statement about Phillip's departure from the show.
Holly was further 'thrown under the bus' by former Dancing On Ice star Jason Gardiner who claimed that the ITV host 'has changed' since she first began in the industry - adding that he 'doesn't know her anymore'.
Jason has opened up about his relationship with Holly - claiming that she is different to how she once was.
“When we started out she was very friendly, didn’t have anyone working with her," he told The Sun. “But on the last series I was on she had a team of about eight people in an entourage following everywhere she went. She became ‘Brand Holly’.
"I didn’t know her any more.”
Vanessa has now thrown her support behind Holly, who she has described as 'sweet' as the This Morning presenter continues to find herself caught up in the drama.
Amid the controversy surrounding This Morning and allegations of ‘toxicity’ at ITV daytime, Vanessa has fiercely defended Holly, insisting that the TV star is 'really kind'.
“She’s a really nice, good natured, kind, sweet person. She really is. For example, all of this was going on, and then Rolf Harris died," Vanessa told OK! Magazine.
“I was asked about the fact he 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 continued to gush over Holly as she exclaimed that she was lucky to be able to call the TV star her friend.
"She bothered - with all this going on - to message me. She definitely didn’t have to - there was no need for her to. That’s just an example of her. She’s beautiful and sweet, which means people want her not to be that in real life. I know her in real life, I know her socially, and I’m friendly with lots of friends of hers.
Vanessa added that she feels 'very honoured' to call Holly a friend and 'she is exactly as you might imagine, but in the nicest way'.
And giving her take Phillip resignation from ITV after his affair confession, Vanessa said she was 'absolutely devastated on behalf of everyone'.
Vanessa has been a part of This Morning for several years and feels as though she has a family with her ITV colleagues.
