As she prepares for a major life change, the TV star is worried she’s made the wrong call
She stepped away from her “ultimate dream job” last October – telling fans her decision to leave This Morning after 14 years was one she’d made “for me and my family”. And since then, Holly Willoughby has remained committed to putting her family first, balancing a far less jam-packed work schedule with her home life as a mum of three.
But next month, the TV queen is set for a massive life change all over again as she heads to Central America to film her new Netflix series Bear Hunt, alongside survival expert Bear Grylls. The show will see them put “a group of unlikely British celebrities” through their paces in the middle of the jungle, and – though it may sound similar to a certain ITV celebrity jungle show – this is a massive coup for Holly. After all, considering Netflix’s global reach, the new gig will potentially expose her to a far broader audience than she ever had on This Morning, and will set the stage for her away from that sofa.
There’s just one problem: the show is on the other side of the world, and although she’s previously had her family in tow for far-flung filming, that’s not looking possible this time. So, an insider tells heat, Holly is both excitedly counting down the days until she launches the next stage of her career, and simultaneously dreading it. “Of course, Holly’s thrilled about the new show. But it’s also been a bit heartbreaking , because she’s realised it’s not really feasible to take the kids out of school and bring them with her,” says an insider close to the 43 year old, who lives in London with her husband, TV producer Dan Baldwin, and their three children, Harry, 14, Belle, 12, and Chester, eight. “Being 5,000 miles away for a month of filming isn’t going to be easy, so she’s really tried to think of every way possible to make it less painful. She’ll FaceTime as much as possible, but she also knows that Netflix expect a lot, so she can’t be disappearing to take long family calls whenever she feels like it. Besides, her destination is nine hours behind the UK, so she’ll be in bed when the kids are up. She gets quite upset thinking about it.”
It’s no secret that last year was a turbulent one for the star, which as heat reported, led her to totally reassess her priorities. After her longtime This Morning co-host and former BFF Philip Schofield stepped down following his “unwise but not illegal” affair with a much younger colleague, Holly did her best to put on a brave face, but didn’t escape the backlash. She continued working on This Morning with guest presenters, but in October, was understandably stricken when it emerge
