TV presenter Holly Willoughby said she “had to unlearn all the telly stuff” and “be a bit more normal” as she prepared to launch her new YouTube channel.
The former This Morning host, 45, also said she was “so excited” to announce her new venture – Holly Willoughby Together – which she described as “all new territory for me”.
Willoughby, also known for hosting Dancing On Ice, will use the platform to host an upcoming lifestyle series, and it will cover topics such as practical advice, fashion, beauty and health.
In an interview with the Press Association at a launch event for her channel, Willoughby reflected on how YouTube and TV are “weirdly not as different as you would think”.
The broadcaster said: “It’s just a shift. It’s been 14 years – you get so used to how things work.
“But then in other ways, you finish an item and everybody comes in and grabs thumbnails and I’m like, ‘oh what are you talking about?’.
“It felt like a load of us were kind of learning the same thing.
“Half the team were digital, half the team worked classic entertainment. It was interesting, because everybody was blending their ways of working.”
Willoughby also told PA she was inspired to pivot towards YouTube as she became more aware of how she and her three children were starting to consume media.
The TV personality said: “(I was) seeing where the industry is shifting and changing.
“I love telly. Telly is in my blood. I love it, and hopefully I’ll go back and do other TV shows and things like that when the time feels right.
“It just that there’s opportunity and options, and it just felt like ‘let’s see where this goes’. And I think I needed a bit of a challenge.
“I think I needed something that felt very important.”
Willoughby described her return to presenting as “weird” and said it was “like stepping into an old pair of slippers that I used to wear”.
She added: “I had to unlearn all the kind of telly stuff and just be a bit more normal, so it was a good first step. I could just kind of ease into it a little.”
Willoughby went on to say she does not feel any pressure about her latest venture, and said: “I’m really looking forward to hearing the feedback because that’s the good thing about YouTube.
“If people don’t like anything, we can change it.”
The TV star said her new channel will feature a “variety” of content, and it will feature a cooking segment, a focus on fashion and beauty, and practical guidance on health and wellness.
Willoughby will also host honest, in-depth conversations with a range of “inspiring” guests including a tech safety campaigner, chefs, a florist and a make-up artist.
Holly Willoughby Together will release two episodes per week, and will premiere on July 28th.
It will be available on YouTube, digital streaming platforms and across social media.
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Ahead of the event at The Langham in London, Willoughby posted a video to Instagram informing her followers that the trailer for her new channel will be available to watch on Tuesday.
“I’m looking at my daughter now, because this is all new territory,” she joked as she encouraged her followers to subscribe to her page.
Willoughby fronted ITV’s This Morning for 14 years, but stepped down in 2023 months after her co-host Phillip Schofield left after admitting to an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a young male colleague on the show.
She continued to present ITV’s Dancing On Ice until it was announced in March 2025 that the show would be “rested” with no further plans for another series.
