Holly Willoughby Tells Women to “Block That Noise Out” on Midlife Looks
Holly Willoughby, 45, says she has stopped worrying about judgment of her looks since leaving daily television. The presenter spoke in London about cosmetic work, her Wylde Moon collaboration with Beauty Pie, and betting on her own YouTube series after the This Morning years.
Holly Willoughby, the British television presenter, said women reaching midlife face impossible expectations about their appearance and must learn to "block that noise out". The 45-year-old spoke in an interview in Soho, central London, on a grey November day, where she was promoting a new collaboration between her lifestyle brand Wylde Moon and the beauty brand Beauty Pie.
She dominated British television for almost two decades, from morning shows to primetime. Now she is trying to build something on her own terms.
Scrutiny and cosmetic work
Willoughby said women must cope with work and family while their looks become a topic of debate. Have cosmetic work done, she said, and risk being accused of vanity. Age "naturally" and face criticism for "letting yourself go".
Her own face and body have been scrutinised on screen for most of her adult life. "You're never going to keep everyone happy," she said. "You've just got to block that noise out."
She welcomed a shift in attitudes to cosmetic treatments. "Once upon a time, [tweakments] used to be everybody's secret. Thank God, we're moving away from that kind of thing," she said. "I do talk for a living and I am on screen, so I do want my face to move."
Willoughby was scouted as a model at The Clothes Show in Birmingham aged 14. She said she worries far less about being judged now that she is not in a studio every day.
"In truth, I hate wearing make-up," she said. She has bad pigmentation, which she treats with Lumecca light treatments twice a year, and wears make-up only when she has to. Most days, she said, she is barefaced walking the dog or collecting her children from school.
From This Morning to YouTube
Willoughby is a mother of three. Her long run as a daytime television host ended after a series of controversies at This Morning. She and co-host Phillip Schofield were accused of jumping the queue of mourners to pay respects to Elizabeth II as she lay in state in September 2022, which they denied.
Schofield left the programme in May 2023 after it emerged that he had had an affair with a younger colleague. In October 2023, a plot to kidnap Willoughby was uncovered, and she resigned from the show and withdrew from public life to be with her family.
In July 2024, Gavin Plumb was found guilty of making plans to murder her and was jailed for life. Since then she has made a tentative return to the spotlight.
She is now presenting Dancing on Ice and the revival of You Bet! She also launched a YouTube lifestyle series, Holly Willoughby Together, in July this year. It received mixed reviews.
The show features celebrity interviews, beauty, fashion, cooking and wellbeing. Hungry Bear Media, the company run by her husband Dan Baldwin, produces it.
