A new interview in Fabulous magazine with Holly Willoughby has uncovered the fact that Holly had 'no idea' that co-host Phil was being paid more than her to do the same job. The interview took place just weeks before the news broke that she was to recieve a huge pay rise to close the gender pay gap between the duo.
It was just last month that the popular pair were hit with the controversial reports that Holly Willoughby was paid hundreds of thousands of pounds less than co-star Philip Schofield. Reportedly, Holly earnt £200,000 less than Phillip's annual £600,000 salary, and only recently received the £200,000 pay rise in order to match her co-star's salary, despite doing the same job on This Morning for several years.
The 36-year-old, who returned to This Morning today, Monday the 4th of September, spoke in the wake of the controversial BBC gender pay gap news to Fabulous magazine, without realising that she herself was also affected by the problem.
She said, "I think it's outrageous, I mean there's no reason for it at all. If you have two equally qualified people who have been doing something for the same amount of time, then there is absolutely no excuse."
The popular TV host was then later questioned about whether she and Philip are paid the same, to which she responded that she had "no idea".
She confessed, "Do you know what? I have no idea. We've never spoke about it.
"The thing is, it's a really difficult question to answer because I think you have to trust in your employer really.
And discussing her ITV bosses, she continued, "You have to trust that they respect you in that way, and I would hope our employer would respect me."
It was rumoured that producers over at ITV were forced to raise Holly's salary following the news that she and Phillip were set to be paid the same salary for the Dancing On Ice revival, but did not receive the same pay-packet for their This Morning roles.
But her recent comments reveal that the gender pay gap exists in companies unbeknown to many trusting employees.
But in happier news, Holly and Phillip have finally reunited on-screen after a long summer break from their presenting roles on This Morning. Despite the pay controversy, the pair were clearly delighted to be back side-by-side on-screen, but did however discuss the fact that they actually spent a lot of their holidays with each other!
Live on air, Holly confessed to Phil, "It's lovely to see you. Although, I do feel like I've spent most of the summer with you.
Phillip agreed, "We've been away. We had a little bit of Portugal fun, didn't we?".
We for one are happy that one of our favourite presenting duos are back on screen and even happier that they're both being equally rewarded for their work.
