Holly Willoughby issuing statement on This Morning / Phillip Schofield
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Holly Willoughby warned against releasing another statement on Phillip after ‘insincere’ and ‘misguided’ speech

Holly's statement divided opinion

Holly Willoughby has been warned against releasing another statement about Phillip Schofield by a crisis management expert.

The expert’s warning comes after Holly’s statement about Phillip on yesterday’s show was branded “misguided”.

Holly Willoughby on This Morning
Holly issued a statement yesterday (Credit: ITV)

Holly Willoughby issues statement on Phillip Schofield

Yesterday (Monday, June 5) saw Holly return to the show for the first time since Phil’s exit. At the beginning of the show, the 42-year-old issued a statement about Phillip.

“Firstly, are you doing ok? I hope so. Feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil. And I imagine you’ve been feeling a lot like I have. Shaken. Troubled. Let down. Worried for the well-being of people on all sides of what’s been going on. And full of questions,” 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 as though they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process,” she then said.

Holly Willoughby on This Morning
Holly’s statement has been slammed (Credit: ITV)

Holly Willoughby statement slammed by crisis management expert

Today, a crisis management expert has slammed Holly’s statement, branding it “insincere” and “misguided”.

Edward Coram James, a crisis management expert and the CEO of GoUp, spoke exclusively to ED! about Holly’s speech.

“In a nutshell, I don’t believe that Willoughby is reading the room very well. I am not alone in thinking this,” he told us. “There seems to be broad consensus within the crisis communications industry (we’re a pretty small world!) that her statement was misguided at best, and madness at worst.”

He then continued, saying: “At a time that calls for de-escalation, it was escalatory. And, instead of the ‘healing’ that Willoughby suggested was needed, her comments have almost certainly poked the wound.”

Holly Willoughby on This Morning
Holly has been warned (Credit: ITV)

Holly’s speech was ‘madness’

Edward then continued. He said: “My take on this from the outset is that this should have been a problem, but that bad crisis communications from all the three main named parties (Willoughby, Schofield and ITV) has turned it into a crisis.”

The expert then criticised Holly highlighting Phillip’s lies, whilst also later mentioning the word “healing”. He said that doing these things within such a short speech risks her appearing “insincere”.

“The best thing for Willoughby to do now is to move on, and hope that, whereas she will definitely have won a lot of supporters, she hasn’t in the process put off a lot of former fan,” he later said.

“If she wants to keep her viewers united and watching This Morning, and really instigate the healing process, then she needs to stop picking at the stitches. She would be very unwise, from a crisis communications point of view, to continue to release statements that are anything other than truly reconciliatory. So, probably best that she stops releasing statements full stop.”

Read more: The tweets which prove Holly has nothing to worry about after ‘cold’ Schofe statement

This Morning airs on weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX. 

A message to you, from Holly | This Morning

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Robert Emlyn Slater
Senior Writer