Holly Willoughby's This Morning family have paid an emotional tribute to the presenter after she announced she was leaving the show.
Yesterday, Holly, 42, delivered the bombshell that she was leaving the programme after 14 years on the sofa.
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The announcement came after it was revealed that Holly was set to go on 'indefinite leave' from This Morning after learning about an alleged plot to kidnap her.
She explained in a statement posted on social media: "I have let ITV know today that after 14 years, I will not be returning to This Morning."
"To everyone who has ever worked on the show over the years, thank you so so much," she continued.
"This is such a difficult goodbye, you are incredible and I forever will be proud of what we've done together.
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"Thank you to everyone at ITV for being supportive. To every guest who has sat on our sofa, thank you.
"Most of all, thank you to the wonderful viewers. You've been so loyal, so supportive and the very best company every day."
Opening credits for today's programme served as a heartfelt goodbye to Holly, with a message saying her departure marked the 'end of an era', and that 'family comes first'.
"We’ll miss you!" the programme said, adding: "Goodbye Holly."
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Presenter Rochelle Humes then began the show by saying: “We want to start by sending out love, best wishes and respect to our Holly.”
Co-host Craig Doyle explained how she had made the ‘heartbreaking’ decision to leave, with Rochelle adding: “Holly loved her job here and was really looking forward to the future of the show."
She said ‘recent events, especially in the last week’ have been ‘hard to deal with’, and that Holly is ‘quite rightly putting family first’.
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Craig continued: “We loved working with Holly... We’re all really sad and we’re all really gonna miss her.”
Insiders close to the star have said the recent kidnap plot impacted her decision to leave, but claim it wasn’t the sole reason.
A source told The Sun: “There have been a lot of tears over the past few days. Holly spoke with her children and then with her husband Dan and her parents at length.
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“She absolutely loves This Morning and has devoted herself to the show. But recent events have changed everything and Holly has to put her family first.
“Holly personally told This Morning boss Martin Frizell and ITV Daytime’s managing director Emma Gormley. Both conversations were very emotional.
“They obviously wanted her to stay, but said they would completely support her decision.
“ITV have been looking after Holly and have provided a support package to her as well as the offer of counselling if she needs it.”
They said her supposed fallout with former co-host Phillip Schofield also played a major part, adding: “This was an incredibly hard decision for Holly but, in all honesty, she hasn’t been truly happy at work since the fallout with Phil. Seeing him hung out to dry has been hard and took its toll.
“Fourteen years in any workplace is a long stretch, and she has been considering other opportunities over the summer. The time to leave feels right - albeit under the darkest of circumstances.”
Topics: TV And Film, This Morning, Holly Willoughby, Celebrity, ITV
Jess Hardiman