Holly Willoughby reportedly hopes to interview Fearne Cotton

The source said Willoughby still hoped to make the show a success and had invited Cotton to take part. Cotton had no hard feelings, the source said, but felt the two had separate professional identities and had a lot going on. The insider added that Willoughby was finding it difficult to secure big guests and would welcome Cotton’s support. Neither broadcaster has publicly explained why their friendship faded.

The pair met as children’s television presenters in the late 1990s and later hosted Holly & Fearne Go Dating in 2007. They became team captains on Celebrity Juice a year later and co-wrote The Best Friends’ Guide To Life in 2010. Cotton left Celebrity Juice in 2018, a move Willoughby said had surprised her. They were last seen together publicly when they returned for the show’s final episode in December 2022.

Cotton later built her Happy Place podcast into a wellness business and interviewed Willoughby on the show in 2021. Willoughby presented This Morning for 14 years from 2009, then left in October 2023 after stepping away following a plot to kidnap her. Cotton and Willoughby did not publicly comment on each other’s personal difficulties, the article says.

Willoughby returned to television with Celebrity Bear Hunt in 2025 and launched Together in July. Guests have included Emma Bunton, Nicole Appleton, Katherine Ryan and Michael McIntyre. The article reports that the series has received mixed feedback and that, despite Willoughby having 7.9 million Instagram followers, 32,000 have subscribed to its YouTube channel. A Closer source said friends were concerned about how an unanswered invitation might affect the pair. Cotton recently interviewed former adversary Miquita Oliver on Happy Place, but the source said Cotton viewed that situation differently and did not think the timing with Willoughby was right.