Holly Willoughby

Holly Willoughby (born 10.2.1981)

Holly Willoughby is a British TV presenter and model. She has presented a number of high-profile TV shows in the UK, such as CD:UK and This Morning.

Holly Willoughby: Childhood

Holly Willoughby was raised in Sussex, attending Burgess Hill School for Girls and The College of Richard Collyer in Horsham.

At the age of 14, she was spotted by talent scouts at The Clothes Show Live exhibition and was shortly signed up by Storm Model Management. She appeared in a number of teen magazines, such as Mizz, Just Seventeen and More! Then, from the age of 17, she started modelling underwear for brands such as Pretty Polly, appearing in a number of posters and magazine adverts.

Holly Willoughby: Career

In 2000, Holly Willoughby auditioned for S Club TV, a show on CITV, featuring the pop band S Club 7. After appearing in that show, as well as a follow up called S Club: Artistic Differences, she worked for a while as a receptionist for the shopping channel Auction World TV.

Willoughby then asked a friend to help her make a show reel, which eventually landed her with an agent, who contacted the BBC. As a result of this connection, she went on to present a programme called XChange. She went on to host other children's shows for CBBC, such as X-perimental and CBBC at the Fame Academy).

Willoughby's real breakthrough in TV presenting came in 2004, when she re-signed with CITV and presented Ministry of Mayhem, with Stephen Mulhern and Michael Underwood. The title of the show was later changed to Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown, to reflect Willoughby and Mulhern's popularity.

In 2005, Willoughby presented Feel the Fear, a kids' entertainment programme, in which she and co-presenter Steve Wilson were set a number of unnerving challenges.

Later in 2005, Holly Willoughby presented the music show CD:UK for while. She replaced Cat Deeley in the interim before Myleene Klass became a regular on the show. Willoughby then went on to co-present Dancing on Ice with Phillip Schofield. In January 2011, she stepped down from the role, as she had other work commitments.

Among the other shows that she has presented for ITV include The Xtra Factor, The X Factor spin-off show as well as Lip Service and Celebrity juice, with Keith Lemon and Fearne Cotton. She took over from Davina McCall in 2007 as the presenter of Streetmate.

Since September 2009, Holly Willoughby took over from Fern Britton to co-present This Morning with Phillip Schofield, the weekday morning chat and feature show.

In November 2011, Willoughby announced that she would be presenting The Voice UK - a singing contest - with the BBC Radio One DJ Reggie Yates.

Holly Willoughby: Personal Life

In August 2007, Holly Willoughby married Dan Baldwin, whom she met whilst working on Ministry of Mayhem. They have two children together: a son named Harry (b. 2009) and a daughter, Belle (b. 2011)

She is close friends with the TV presenter and radio DJ Fearne Cotton.