Yahoo Lifestyle TV Presenter Opens Up About Uncovering Traumatic Kidnapping Plot
English television presenter Holly Willoughby is slowly returning to her public life on screen after taking a break following a personal ordeal.
The 43-year-old host is now opening up about what it was like when a plot to kidnap and kill her was uncovered, leading to the imprisonment of a former security guard.
Willoughby sat down with The Sunday Times for her first interview in over a year as she admitted, "It’s been a tough one. There’s no way of sugar-coating it."
Last summer, a man was convicted and given a life sentence for his plot to kidnap, sexually assault and kill Willoughby. He was ordered to serve a minimum of 16 years in prison before the possibility of being eligible for release, as reported by Essex Police.
The plot was revealed by an undercover American police officer who worked their way into the perpetrator's online chat group.
"Nothing can prepare you for something like that," Willoughby said of the experience in her new interview. "When something like that happens, you have a decision to make. You either decide, right, I can take this on board and it can absolutely affect all aspects of my life. Or I can make a choice to go, let’s focus on everything that’s positive and good, all those important things."
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She mentioned her husband and kids before adding, "You have to go: I choose to positively move forward and rely on all those people — the police, the court, the judge, the jury — all those people to do their role. And that’s what I had to do.”
Willoughby stepped away from hosting and spent time with her family over the past year or so, enjoying the downtime. She recently started her slow return to the entertainment industry, hosting Dancing on Ice again and joining the upcoming competition series Celebrity Bear Hunt with Bear Grylls, premiering on Netflix in the U.K. on Feb. 5.
She said of the experience facing the wilderness in Costa Rica while filming the show, “I’m made of quite tough stuff. I have that thing where I definitely would rather take the easy option, but I know, if I have to, there is something in there.”
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available 24 hours a day through RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
