Holly Willoughby says plot to kill her put ‘everything into perspective’
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter
Former This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby has said a plot to kidnap, rape and murder her put “everything in perspective”.
Gavin Plumb was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years in July 2024 after being convicted of soliciting murder and encouraging or assisting others to rape and kidnap her.
Willoughby, 45, will now launch her YouTube channel Together on July 28th, after leaving This Morning in October 2023, and seeing ITV’s Dancing On Ice, which she also presented, rested in March 2025.
She told Vogue: “When something like that happens, suddenly everything else gets put into perspective and you know what? I don’t fear what people think because I know what real fear feels like.
“This shouldn’t be scary. This should be something really enjoyable. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But you have to have a go. What’s the other option? Just sitting scared and never doing a thing again?
“Not everybody’s going to like what you do, that’s just a fact. I’m not for everybody.
“On this new platform, people find you and come to you because they’re interested in you. I’m not being forced upon anyone.
“I actually feel a little bit safer because I’m saying, ‘I don’t know if I can do this – we’ll all find out together’, in a way, that’s less pressure.”
Willoughby’s lifestyle channel will cover topics such as practical advice, fashion, beauty and health.
She added: “I started my forties very much thinking, ‘I’ve worked out life now’, life really sometimes knows how to just kick you up the ass and go, ‘hang on a minute’.
“Everybody knows what happened and it was difficult. It was a really difficult time. It did set me back and made me realise, ‘right, well of course you haven’t got everything figured out, of course life is going to keep throwing challenges at you’.”
She said she had learned she is “very resilient” as a result of the ordeal, which she said “doesn’t define you”.
Willoughby said: “It’s another lesson learned, isn’t it? It’s another life experience that adds another layer and makes you a bit more empathetic to other people in similar situations.
“Everything in life teaches you something and I definitely had a hard lesson to learn. I’m not going to sit here and go, ‘I’m so strong now’, because I’m not, but I’m stronger in many ways.”
Willoughby’s departure from This Morning came months after her co-host Phillip Schofield left after admitting to an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a young male colleague on the show.
Willoughby also fronted the ITV game show You Bet!, but had to step down for its second season over scheduling conflicts.
Together will release two episodes per week from its premiere on July 28 on YouTube, digital streaming platforms and across social media.
