There comes a moment in many a long-term relationship when the first tell-tale sign of the rot setting in appears.

Often it’s not that obvious, only coming into focus with hindsight and after the divorce: the atmosphere at that party, the snippy comment, the ill-concealed eye roll.

All partnerships have their ups and downs, and for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, that reached a crescendo last week. With rumours swirling about their future on the famous This Morning sofa – the latter then decided to step down.

Reports of a feud surfaced earlier this month, but according to a source there has been tension between them for some time. Phil subsequently released a statement to try to dampen speculation, but succeeded only in apparently blindsiding Holly and throwing more fuel on the fire.

Then there was word of PR teams and lawyers being brought in, with the two barely speaking. And what was it that sparked the beginning of the cooling that we’re seemingly witnessing today? A photo shoot in 2019. There they were, TV’s golden couple, side by side on the cover of The Sunday Times magazine, looking as much of a team as ever. But for one thing. The crayon crown airbrushed onto Holly’s head.

Not her choice, of course. But its appearance said something about how the public viewed her and crucially how we regarded her TV husband. Phillip, for so long undisputed royalty on the This Morning couch, was in danger of being deposed. The King was on the wane. Long live the Queen.

All partnerships have their ups and downs, and for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, that reached a crescendo last week.

And now here we are, four years later, with This Morning bosses said to be considering a “seismic shake-up” of the flagship show, with the couple’s once close relationship – family holidays together, long chats on the phone – all but over.

Were there other clues, hidden in plain sight, that provide an insight into how Holly has been feeling – and her determination to set things right? Very possibly, yes.

WYLDE MOON is Holly’s personally produced website, the shop window for her compelling and engaging brand. On it you’ll find life advice, high-profile interviews, fashion, beauty and style tips.

And a blog. It’s here where the clues may lie, in a journal designed to encourage and inspire others but which, set against the turmoil in her professional life, has taken on a whole new resonance.

Take this one from as recently as March, “Some motherly advice that’s really stayed with me is, ‘Pick your battles and don’t sweat the small stuff.’

“Mum always said, ‘Try not to react to anything that triggers you straight away. If you give everything a bit of time and space to breathe, the right path will become clear.’ And she was absolutely right.”

Wise words written as part of a Mother’s Day tribute, but which could equally be read as an affirmation to herself about her current troubles, which at the time of writing were being kept as off-radar as possible.

Then there’s this extract, from later that same month, “With the great benefit of age and hindsight, I’ve discerned that you spend your younger years creating an ‘appropriate’ persona for yourself – mainly for the benefit of others. It’s only in your later years, when you suddenly realise you don’t know who you are anymore, that you begin this journey of stripping everything back. And that’s where I find myself now… stripped back and getting to know myself.”

Holly was all smiles last week

Has this “stripping back” and journey of discovery given Holly a new view on her partnership with Phil? We’ll never know and we have to be careful not to retro-fit her words into a new narrative.

There’s little doubt though that she has grown both personally and professionally in her time on screen. Scouted as a model at 14, by 17 she was a familiar face in teen mags and had some big name brands to her name, including Pretty Polly.

By 2000 she had moved into television, while also taking jobs as a receptionist and a runner on a now defunct shopping channel.

Through hard work and determination she made a showreel, secured an agent and won several spots hosting children’s TV – such as SM:TV alongside Stephen Mulhern – as well as a Bafta along the way. Dancing On Ice followed and then, of course, This Morning. She has been a familiar, friendly, well informed face on the sofa ever since. Other women love her. A mother of three herself, she understands them.

Another of her posts on WYLDE MOON in March proclaims, “Since embarking on this Wylde Moon journey I feel like the blinkers are off and I’m much more open to trying different things. Whether I’m reading about alternative therapies or giving them a go, I understand that it’s about opening up and finding out what feels good – and actually, on the flip side, saying no to things that don’t feel good! Every time I do that, things start to shift.”

She’s also a businesswoman, an ambassador for Marks & Spencer and Garnier, a best-selling author and she has a social media following of 17m.

Holly and Phil at the 2019 National Television Awards after winning the Daytime award

A strong, independent woman who, perhaps now at the age of 42, knows her worth more than ever and isn’t afraid to show it.

Look at the confidence it took to walk off-set last week – after an awkward goodbye hug with Phil – to meet King Charles at Buckingham Palace. No fuss, no bother, cool and calm despite the maelstrom of rumour that has been swirling around her for days.

And while Phil felt compelled to issue that emotional statement – he said the last few weeks “hadn’t been easy” for either of them – Holly seemed to instinctively know that the least said the soonest mended. Her dignified silence is deafening.

Here’s an entry from her blog from last October: “The best advice I’ve ever been given is that if you’re doing something where you’re not trying to be someone, or something else, and if what you’re doing is totally you, and totally true, then it can’t be wrong. I really like that.”

Holly knows the value of her brand and how easily it can be tarnished. The furore surrounding the her and Phil supposedly queue jumping to witness The Queen lying in state was nonsense. They were there working as journalists and as such had access to Westminster Hall not available to the public.

We're looking forward to seeing what's next for Holly

They were at risk of being transformed from national treasures to national villains. Holly rode the storm but will never want a repeat of that experience again.

So what now for television’s most famous couple? Perhaps we should look not at Holly’s WYLDE MOON journal but instead at a blurb for her best-selling book Reflections: Life Lessons On Finding Beauty Inside And Out. It’s an empathetic read in which Holly says she draws on her own experiences of “self doubt, guilt, anger and detachment”.

“Have you ever found yourself in that moment where you just wonder – what’s next?” she asks. “I could carry on as I am but there’s a yearning for something else. That’s where this book started for me.”

What’s next indeed? And while that question was where her book started, who knows where theself-doubt answer will take Holly herself?

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By Editor