As a new TV documentary is set to air about the plot to kidnap and murder her, Holly Willoughby just wants to move on from the ordeal and put it behind her, a source says
The terrifying kidnap and murder plan devised by Essex security guard Gavin Plumb that “changed Holly Willoughby ’s life forever” is laid bare in a new TV documentary. However, a source says the mum-of-three is determined not to let it traumatise her all over again.
The Plot To Kill Holly Willoughby is due to air next week on 5, just ahead of the second anniversary of the implosion of her and This Morning co-presenter Phillip Schofield ’s 14-year reign as daytime TV’s golden couple. According to our source, Holly, 44, just wants to put the ordeal behind her and focus on the wellbeing of herself and her loved ones.
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“She’s a very strong woman. As far as she’s concerned, it happened, it’s in the past, and she wants to get on with her life and move on,” they claimed. “In an ideal world it would be something that’s never spoken about again, but Holly knows that’s not going to happen, so she’ll just ride it out. She’s haunted by the past but she won’t be retraumatised by it. She feels the same about the whole Phillip Schofield thing at This Morning – it happened, it’s over, move on.”
The documentary’s synopsis says, “When Holly learned of the plan, just hours before she was due to go on air, her life was changed forever. With little choice but to put her glittering career on hold, she withdrew from public life while the police built their case against Plumb.
“Could Plumb’s disgusting plan ever have come to pass? He was housebound, morbidly obese and incapable of walking even short distances. Yet he spent years looking for an accomplice to help turn his obsession into a reality. Was Plumb a dangerous predatory stalker… or a sad and lonely fantasist, guilty of nothing more than a warped imagination?”
Plumb spent years delving into the details of Holly’s personal life and assembling what the Crown Prosecution Service called his kidnap kit. The horrifying haul included leg shackles, handcuffs, pocket knife, 400 metal cable ties, and bottles of chloroform.
Plumb, who already had convictions linked to false imprisonment and kidnap, also tried to recruit others he met online to join him in his plan to break into her home before incapacitating her with chloroform and kidnapping her. In July 2024, he was found guilty of soliciting murder and inciting kidnap and rape, and handed a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 16 years before he becomes eligible for parole.
Stefan Walters, a psychologist specialising in trauma and brainspotting therapy, tells us that while Holly waived her right to anonymity and was in control of that process, she has no control over the reaction to the TV show. “It may open up different stories in the public and there may be a response to it, but I would hope that it’s part of her healing,” he says. “It can be difficult watching a re-enaction of a trauma because that can be a bit like reliving it, but actually sometimes that can be a kind of exposure therapy.
“The more we’re able to expose ourselves to it and develop resilience to it, then the less we’re activated. So again, I would hope Holly has done her own therapy and trauma work, and feels in control of the narrative. That’s so important.”
As the anniversary of Phillip’s departure from This Morning approaches, Stefan says Holly will possibly experience an unconscious reactivated trauma. “Our bodies and our subconscious minds absolutely do remember dates and occasions – and anniversaries can unconsciously reactivate trauma in that way. It may be that people dream about someone, or wake up feeling low, and then find it’s 10 years to the day that the event happened.”
Earlier this year, Holly reflected about her life since the court case, saying, “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.”
She recently presented Netflix ’s Celebrity Bear Hunt alongside Bear Grylls, and our source says the star is now looking forward and not back.
“It’s probably hard to imagine that two years ago she was presenting one of the biggest morning TV shows, without a real care in the world, because things changed so much for her.
“But Holly is determined and strong, she’ll still have her eyes on the prize, for sure, and she’ll be focusing on what she wants, not what she’s lost.”
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