Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were apparently ‘distant’ behind the scenes of This Morning and didn’t know the names of people on the production team, Eamonn Holmes has claimed.

Ahead of Phillip’s exit from the ITV programme, it was alleged that the 61-year-old and his co-host Holly, 42 – previously described as best friends – were ‘barely speaking’ behind the scenes.

While it was said that they called a ‘truce’ in a phone call after Phil’s final show, Holly later expressed how ‘hurt’ she felt to learn about his affair with a younger male colleague, having been ‘lied’ to about their secret relationship.

Following Phil’s exit from This Morning and subsequently from ITV on the whole, Eamonn, 63, sat down for an interview where he shared his views on the former Dancing On Ice presenter’s departure.

During the conversation on GB News, interviewer Dan Wootton brought up a formal complaint that was reported to have been made by his wife Ruth Langsford, 63, about Phil in 2019.

‘But that was because he was so rude,’ Eamonn responded, before bringing up a statement that Phillip recently made shutting down speculation of ‘toxicity’ at This Morning.

It was claimed that Phil and Holly were ‘barely speaking’ off-camera before his This Morning exit (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex/Shutterstock)

Eamonn hasn’t held back from sharing his views about Phil and Holly (Picture: GB News)

‘This nonsense that he wrote today about toxicity, about it’s a happy place and whatever… holy god, what planet does this man live on? He created an atmosphere where people hated him,’ the GB News broadcaster continued.

‘People would avoid him in the corridor. He didn’t look at anybody, he didn’t know anybody’s names. Holly doesn’t know people’s names either. This is legendary within the production team, that how distant they are and how they just don’t care.’

Eamonn expressed his hope that more people will feel that they have the ‘courage’ to ‘tell the truth’.

‘I think what I would like now is if a few of the Loose Women, if certain executives are moved, maybe they’ll have the courage to tell the truth about what it is,’ he stated.

‘But he was so rude, so dismissive of the Loose Women.’

Ruth continues to work as a panelist on Loose Women, while Eamonn joined GB News in 2022.

Metro.co.uk has contacted representatives of ITV and Holly Willoughby for comment. Phillip Schofield declined to comment.

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV.

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Eamonn Holmes spoke at length about his ex-colleagues.