Holly Willoughby has spoken openly about imposter syndrome and said she “wasn’t up to” hosting when she first landed her role on This Morning.
The ITV veteran, who has been presenting the popular daytime show alongside Phillip Schofield since 2009 recalled the “dreadful” interview with Prime Minister Gordon Brown soon after her first appearance on the programme.
Discussing the interview which happened more than ten years ago, Holly told The Daily Mail Weekend Magazine about her experience and said she was “awful”.
She expressed: “I was dreadful. The worst thing was that so many people in the industry had said I couldn’t do that job. I wanted to prove myself.
(Image: ITV)
“When it came to the interview, I was trying to read out questions from the script, I was saying words I didn’t even understand, mangling up sentences and completely floundering. I was awful.
“Various critics had said, ‘she’ll be OK with the fluffy fashion pieces but how will she do a serious political interview?’ And they were right. Presenting that show is about being able to do everything from light to serious. I wasn’t up to the job,” she confessed.
Holly admitted that although she was grateful for the position, she never felt good enough and suffered from “massive imposter syndrome” during the earlier part of her career.
(Image: PA)
Despite her earlier reservations and her desire for Phillip to lead on more serious subject matters on the show, Holly has proven to be a well-rounded presenter and has interviewed the likes of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles since then.
The mother of three took over the presenting role from Fern Britton who decided it was time to hand in her resignation.
While appearing on The Ray D’Arcy Show in 2020, Fern clarified why she decided to quit This Morning in 2009.
(Image: ITV)
She explained: “I began not to enjoy it so much and the morning I resigned, I didn’t know I was going to resign.
“Something happened and I just thought, ‘That’s it really’ and I walked away and resigned. I was treated pretty poorly actually.
She added: “After a while, I just thought, ‘Sod it’. There was also a persistent rumour that I left because Phillip was being paid more than me and I always say to people, ‘Why would I leave a show to go to nothing if I was worried about money?'”
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
