June 24th 2023.
Dan Walker has addressed the drama surrounding his former colleague, Holly Willoughby, at ITV's This Morning. After Phillip Schofield revealed he had an 'unwise but not illegal' affair with a young male showrunner, Holly took to her Instagram stories to express her disappointment.
Dan Walker, the former BBC News star, is still hoping the show won't disappear. He said: 'I believe it's filled with brilliant, creative, clever people who are making programmes with the right integrity. This Morning is part of the fabric of British TV so I hope it doesn't disappear.'
He then went on to The Daily Mail to express his hopes that Holly will 'learn from it and be a better person because of it'. Dan also reflected on his own decision to leave BBC Breakfast after six years and move to Channel 5. He said, 'When I left the BBC, 20 per cent of me wondered if I'd made the right decision. Now, looking back over the past 12 months, I'm pretty confident I did.'
Marking her return to This Morning after Schofield's exit, Holly opened the show with a statement to the camera. She said, 'I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have – shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what's been going on and full of questions.'
She continued, '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. That is a lot to process, and it's equally hard to see the toll that it's taken on their own mental health.'
Holly then declared her hope that the show will 'start this new chapter' and find 'strength in each other'. She also thanked viewers for all of their kind messages and for being there with her.
Elsewhere, the TV host mentioned the late Caroline Flack and her own mental health after Schofield's confession, saying that it's 'equally hard to see the toll that it's taken on their own mental health'.
As the show goes on, Holly, Josie Gibson, Dermot O'Leary, Alison Hammond and Craig Revel-Horwood will continue to work hard to bring viewers the show that they love.
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