UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has joined Holly Willoughby’s This Morning colleagues in sending her well-wishes after a man was charged over an alleged plot to kidnap the presenter.
On Friday morning, it was reported that the daytime star was “under police guard at her home” after “sinister” messages were found on a man’s phone reportedly threatening to “seriously harm” the daytime TV presenter.
Following this, it was confirmed a 36-year-old man had been charged with soliciting to commit murder and incitement to commit kidnap.
Holly’s co-stars Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary began Friday’s broadcast by sending love to their ITV colleague.
“We’re obviously all shocked to hear the news and we want to send our love and biggest hugs to Holly and her family,” Alison said.
Later in the show, the pair interviewed Sunak following his appearance at the Tory party conference over the weekend, during which he took a moment to say he was “so sorry to hear about everything that is going on with Holly”.
“I wanted to send my best to her and her family and to all of you,” the PM added.
“Thank you, we appreciate that,” Dermot said, with Alison agreeing: “And she will appreciate that as well.”
During Friday’s edition of her own ITV daytime show, Lorraine Kelly also took the opportunity to say she was “sending [Holly] all of our love and best wishes, that’s a terrible thing to go through”.
Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby of Essex Police said on Friday: “This was an extremely fast-paced investigation, with many of our officers and national partners working overnight to secure these charges.
“The safeguarding of any victim is paramount and we will continue to prioritise this and working with the Metropolitan Police Service as the investigation proceeds.”
Meanwhile, the PA news agency has reported that Holly has been provided with “round-the-clock security and support” by her employers at ITV.
HuffPost UK has contacted representatives for both Holly Willoughby and This Morning for comment.
The news comes at the end of what Holly recently described as a “difficult year” while speaking to reporters at this year’s National Television Awards.
The charges in this story have been updated.