Loyal Holly Willoughby's 'wise' words to distraught Phillip Schofield amid gay turmoil
Phillip Schofield admitted he could never have made peace with his sexuality if it hadn't been for his biggest supporter, Holly Willoughby
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For 14 years Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby have been inseparable both on and off screen.
Indeed, Holly was firmly by Phil's side when he bravely came out as gay to the nation on This Morning last February.
A fiercely protective Holly, 39, wrapped her arms around a sobbing Phil as he went public with his secret sexuality struggle, having been married to wife Stephanie for 27 years.
That struggle will be laid bare in the TV hosts new autobiography, Life's What You Make It, which is out today.
And in a moving Instagram statement issued at the time, Phil explained that the path to figuring out his true sexuality had been a tormented one.
"You never know what is going on in someone's seemingly perfect life, what issues they are struggling with or the state of their wellbeing - and so you won't know what has been consuming me for the last few years," he said.
"With the strength and support of my wife and my daughters, I have been coming to terms with the fact that I am gay."
Admitting the situation had caused 'heart-breaking conversations' at home, he revealed that contrary to rift rumours doing the rounds at the time, Holly had actually been one of his biggest supporters.
"My friends are the best, especially Holly, who has been so kind and wise - and who has hugged me as I sobbed on her shoulder," Phil wrote.
And in an emotional interview with Holly on This Morning, he broke down recalling the kindness she'd shown him behind the scenes.
Sobbing as he recalled the painful process, he told his long-time friend: "I couldn't have done it if it hadn't been for you."
Reaching across to comfort him, Holly promised: "Whatever happens in the future, I'll be sat by your side, forever and ever."
"Thank you my darling, so much," wept Phil.
The pair - who first worked together on Dancing On Ice back in 2006 - were previously forced to defend their friendship after rumours of a civil war at ITV between Phil and his co-host Ruth Langsford.
"We ring each other and talk to each other all the time anyway, about this and other things,” she told Closer magazine, insisting there was no way they could 'fake' their close bond.
She continued: “We know what we’re like. It would be impossible for us to fake the giggles. I’m on the telly for two and a half hours - let me tell you, I’m not that good an actress.
“If I was, I’d be doing something else.”
Their friendship was first born back in the mid-noughties when up-and-comer Holly joined established TV presenter Phil on the ITV skating show.
Holly said she was initially 'scared' about working with such a big name but quickly realised they were cut from the same cloth.
"I love that man. I'd obviously watched him on the telly lots, he was in the Broom Cupboard , he was my children's TV presenter that I used to watch," she once told the Jonathan Ross Show.
"I was a bit scared when I first met him but that changed very quickly when I realised he was basically me in the male form."
For Phil's part, he's said to have been so impressed by Holly that he convinced bosses to hire her as Fern Britton's replacement on This Morning in 2009.
She spent her first ever show nervously clinging onto Phil's arm, but with their bloopers and near-constant giggling, the pair quickly became an award-winning combination.
Off screen, their friendship flourished with the couple and their families holidaying to Portugal together almost every year.
Their partners Stephanie and Dan Baldwin became friends too while Phil's daughters Ruby and Molly doted on Holly's younger kids, Harry, Belle and Chester.
As an exhausted, working mum Holly found comfort in colleague Phil who had been through it with his own little ones.
“We spend quite a lot of time together and quite often I’d come in in the morning and I wouldn’t have slept properly because of the kids or something and he’s my first port of call to talk to, really," she previously told the Radio Times.
And for Phil, Holly quickly became his pal and his confidante.
“Holly is incredibly sympathetic,” he said in the same sit-down chat.
“She’s the best person to tell secrets to. She’s got a brilliant ability to see sense through mess. She’s also more diplomatic than I am.”
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