Her plunging necklines sparked controversy during Dancing on Ice, but all the fuss over her cleavage only made Holly Willoughby slip into something a little more daring.
Her plunging necklines sparked controversy during Dancing on Ice, but all the fuss over her cleavage only made Holly Willoughby slip into something a little more daring.
So now she’s the new queen of daytime TV – with a £250,000-a-year deal to co-host This Morning and a reported £5million golden handcuffs deal with ITV – will she be toning down her wardrobe?
Not according to her old school pals who say former model Holly has never been shy of flaunting her amazing figure.
And our exclusive photos show how 28-year-old Holly had perfected the art of under-dressing to impress way back in the sixth form.
But then Holly, voted her school’s Most Fanciable Female in 1997, is proud of her hourglass figure. She recalls being a “rake thin” pupil at
Burgess Hill School for Girls near her home in West Sussex.
Holly has said: “As soon as I hit 17 my hips went ‘pang’, the boobs went ‘pang’. And I remember thinking, ‘Finally!’”
So when the appearance of her curves coincided with her going to a mixed sixth-form at the College of Richard Collyer in Horsham, she seized every chance to show them off.
Stuart Charnley, 28, a sales manager from Crawley, West Sussex, says: “I remember Holly coming to college as a Playboy bunny and bringing the canteen to a complete standstill. There were quite a few happy young men.”
She wore a corset and suspenders for a Rag Week “kinky day” in 1997.
For a “history day”, she and a friend put on fake fur bikinis under the pretext of being cavegirls – an outfit that showed off her belly-button piercing.
And a “movie day” gave Holly the chance to glam up in white lace and a suspender belt as sexy Sugar from 1995’s Batman Forever.
Flamboyant Glenny, now 28 and the manager of Piries Bar in Horsham, says the other students were in awe of Holly, who dressed like a 50s film star and drove her battered VW Golf to school with the Wonder Woman theme blasting out.
He says: “Holly always loved to dress up. She was never shy about putting it all on show. But I think everyone in the college will remember her most for the Playboy bunny outfit. The lads were open-mouthed.
“She gave me the chance to dress up, too. We’d pretend to be Marilyn Monroe in her bedroom and sing Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend. She treated me like one of the girls which I really appreciated.
“She was the best friend a boy like me could have after being bullied for being gay.stripper
“She even took me to my first gay club, Revenge, in Brighton. But she was so shocked at the stripper on stage she just stood with her hands over her eyes.”
Holly was just 14 when she was talent spotted by the Storm modelling agency at the Clothes Show Live. One of her first jobs was advertising Always sanitary towels, and she went on to do shoots for Rimmel cosmetics, lingerie and Pretty Polly tights.
But according to Glenny, who has changed his name from Glenn Gibbins, she never made a big deal about her work.
He says: “It’s amazing to think she’s gone from advertising sanitary protection to becoming a daytime TV queen.
“She was incredibly modest about her modelling career. I didn’t know about it until we were flicking through Sugar magazine and there was a shot of Holly with a gobstopper in her mouth, and the slogan ‘RU gobsmacked?’ for Rimmel’s RU line. Even when the jobs got bigger, she never boasted, she just got on with it as if it was a Saturday shop job.
“But she couldn’t hide when she was splashed all over a poster in Superdrug in the town centre.
“She played it down, saying: ‘Glenny it wasn’t that glamorous – the bubbles were Fairy Liquid and it ruined my hair’.
“But people at college changed towards her a bit after that.
“The boys were all over her and some of the girls were jealous. They’d make paparazzi noises, but it didn’t seem to bother Holly.
“The job she was most remembered for was a TV advert that was so raunchy it had to be shown after the 9pm watershed.”
Glenny is referring to a bra ad in which size 32D Holly says, provocatively: “I am a sex goddess… don’t squeeze them, lift them”.
At the time, she was doing A-levels in art, English and theatre studies, and hoping that the ads would kickstart a career in TV or as an actress.
Glenny recalls: “She always said she wanted to be an actress. We did the Greek tragedy The Bacchae at school and she was fantastic in it.”
He and Holly actually first met at a drama class in college when they were both 16.
He says: “Everyone else was grungy, but she was so pretty with gorgeous hair and an amazing smile, like a Disney princess.
“She had glowing, healthy skin – I never ever saw her get a single spot. She didn’t wear much make-up, but she exuded confidence, grace and style. She had the X-factor.
“I made a beeline for her and we hit it off. For the next two years she was the best friend I could have wished for. Now the rest of the country can see what I saw in her then.
“And what you see on TV is what you get with Holly. She really is that lovely. There’s no edge to her. She’ll be perfect for This Morning – she’s best on relaxed shows where she can just be herself and have a laugh.
“She’s got a great sense of humour, too. And she’s stunning, of course, so lots of men will want to watch her. I think there will be an increase in duvet days!”
He is also thrilled that Holly, who is married to TV producer Dan Baldwin, is now a mum, following the birth of son Harry in May.
Glenny says: “She never spoke about wanting children when we were best friends as she was always very career focused. But I bet she’s a really great mum.”
Sadly, he and Holly are no longer in touch.
He says: “We lost contact after school. I did try to get back in touch with her by leaving a message with her mum but she never called, which is a shame because we had such a ball.
“I was a bit hurt, but I suppose she has so much going on, she hasn’t got time for us.
“I am just happy to see her doing so well.”
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