Amanda Holden takes swipe at Holly Willoughby by mimicking her This Morning speech
Amanda Holden has been making subtle digs at both Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield over the last couple of weeks following the news that Schofield has left This Morning over an inappropriate workplace relationship.
Holden at first tweeted a muscle arm emoji when Schofield announced he was leaving the show, and this morning she mimicked Holly Willoughby’s speech from yesterday morning’s This Morning, the first time Holly Willoughby had been back on air since Schofield announced he had quit.
Wearing a similar white dress to the one Willoughby wore yesterday, Holden said: “Hello, it is Tuesday. Are you okay?”
A day earlier Willoughby had opened This Morning by saying: “Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you OK? I hope so.”
On Monday, Willoughby launched into a speech where she mentioned Phillip Schofield but made the point that she was determined to get on with her job presenting This Morning without spending anymore time dwelling on the past.
Read more: Phillip Schofield says he’s ‘lost everything’ over This Morning affair
She said: “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. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone. I hope that as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that this show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.”
It’s not clear why Holden seems to be taking swipes at Willoughby and Schofield.
Willoughby’s speech yesterday was controversial, with many social media users criticising its dramatic nature, and some calling it “ridiculous”. Others said it was “patronising.”
Schofield has implied his TV career is now over in interviews with The Sun and the BBC following his revelation that he was having an inappropriate workplace relationship with a runner on This Morning who was 20 at the time they were sexually involved.
In the BBC interview Schofield said he was suicidal and has been supported by his two daughters in the wake of the news breaking. He said: “I see nothing ahead of me but blackness, and sadness, and regret, and remorse, and guilt. I did something very wrong, and then I lied about it consistently.”
About the 20-year-old he said: “He is an innocent party here. I was older, I should have known better. [Their relationship] was consensual, but it was my fault.”
Willoughby initially said it was “very hurtful” to discover that Schofield had lied to her about his relationship with the runner when she had confronted him about it.
ITV is now launching an official investigation into wrongdoing at This Morning during the era in which the affair happened. Dr Ranj Singh is one of the names to have come out and claimed that there is a toxic workplace culture at This Morning that goes beyond Schofield’s behaviour. Kerry Katona and MP Nadine Dorries have also called the programme’s culture “toxic,” a claim Schofield has always denied.
Read more: A-List celebrities planned to ‘ambush’ Phillip Schofield live on This Morning, report claims
Read more: Bizarre Phillip Schofield tribute delivered by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary on This Morning