Holly Willoughby has confessed that she’d been envious when she first learned that her friend, comedian Katherine Ryan, was expecting a new baby
Former This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby has made a deeply personal confession on her new YouTube show. Speaking to Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan, she shared that giving birth to her three children; Harry, 17, Belle, 15, and Chester, 11, was “the best thing” she had done in her life. However, as they are growing older, she’s becoming increasingly aware that they are beginning to lead their own lives.
“You need to have a baby,” Katherine immediately responded, but a wistful Holly said that at 45, “that ship has sailed.” The pair joked that Katherine, who is herself 43, could act as Holly’s surrogate.
In the chat on her new YouTube channel, Holly admitted that she had been envious when she learned that Katherine was expecting a baby: “When I heard you were pregnant,” she said, “I was like, ‘Maybe I should, maybe I should, maybe should.’ I was so, like, jealous that you were doing it because I was like, ‘I should have done it’.”
Katherine herself has four children – her daughter Violet was born when Katherine was 25, and then, after reuniting with first love Bobby Kootstra and entering into a civil partnership in 2019, she went on to have three more children.
Shortly before the birth of her fourth child, Holland, in October 2025, Katherine told viewers of her At Home With Katherine Ryan show: “I’ve been pregnant five times in five years, but that also means I’ve had three miscarriages in five years and the likelihood of that increases as you get older.”
Katherine told Holly that having four children can be exhausting: “We have four kids and the weekend is an exhausting gauntlet of birthday parties, and lessons, and football, and swimming…
“There’s no help at the weekends,” she added, “at least during the week. Sometimes there’s school, sometimes there’s nursery, sometimes you have a child minder.”
Holly agreed, saying that sometimes it was nice to be able to go to work at This Morning and “talk to adults about adult things.”
The star quit ITV’s This Morning in October 2023, after more than 14 years on the show’s iconic sofa.
Her final years on the ITV mid-morning show were blighted by drama and scandal. Holly and on-screen partner Phillip Schofield were slammed for using their media credentials to avoid the queue to attend the late Queen Elizabeth’s lying-in-state at Westminster Hall.
Schofield then quit the show in May 2023 amid feud rumours with Holly, and after admitting to having an affair with a younger colleague.
All of this drama took place against the background of a sinister kidnap plot hatched by stalker Gavin Plumb. Holly was placed under 24-hour police protection and had a guard at her home until Plumb could be arrested.
In 2024, he was found guilty of charges involving conspiracy to murder, rape and kidnap and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years. While Holly waived her right to anonymity, her victim impact statement was not released to the public, but was described by the prosecution as referring to “catastrophic” consequences.
Holly replaced her broadcast TV work with a new lifestyle-based YouTube channel, which attracted some 35,000 viewers on its first day.
