Piers expressed his support for his ‘old mate’ (Picture: TalkTV/Rex)

Piers Morgan has revealed an illuminating realisation that he had after the news emerged that Holly Willoughby had quit her longtime role as a presenter on This Morning.

On Tuesday October 10, the 42-year-old announced in a statement posted on social media that she had decided to leave the ITV programme after 14 years.

Having previously hosted This Morning with Phillip Schofield, 61, before he stepped down earlier this year, Holly wrote: ‘I have let ITV know today that after 14 years, I will not be returning to This Morning.

‘To everyone who has ever worked on the show over the years, thank you so so much. This is such a difficult goodbye, you are incredible and I forever will be proud of what we’ve done together. Thank you to everyone at ITV for being supportive. To every guest who has sat on our sofa, thank you.’

The TV personality has received a wave of support since the announcement, which came days after a man named Gavin Plumb, 36, was arrested and charged with soliciting to commit murder and incitement to commit kidnap of her.

On Wednesday, Piers, 58, shared kind words about Holly on X (formerly Twitter), as well as slightly poking fun at her exit by making an eye-opening observation.

The broadcaster shared a photo on the social media platform from his days presenting Good Morning Britain, as he sat beside his former co-host Susanna Reid behind the ITV studio table, in addition to ex-This Morning stars Holly and Phillip.

‘Congrats ⁦@susannareid100 – you win ITV morning show presenter Survivor!’ he wrote alongside the picture, as Susanna is now the sole person out of the four still fronting an ITV programme through her role on GMB.

In another message shared earlier in the morning, Piers posted a selfie of himself with Holly.

‘Sending love and support to ⁦my old mate ⁦@hollywills who’s had a very difficult year, and a horribly scary time recently, and is rightly now putting her family first,’ he wrote.

‘Holly’s a class act on and off screen – warm, funny, smart and talented.
I wish her all the best.’

During the Tuesday programme of his TalkTV show, Piers spoke fondly of Holly, telling his viewers: ‘I’ve known her a long time, a lot of fun with her over the years, what you see is what you get.’

However, not all have treated Holly’s exit from This Morning with kindness.

Ulrika Jonsson responded to a post shared on Instagram that ridiculed Holly’s departure, which showed a blonde Wilko worker walking around an empty shop with the caption: ‘Holly Willoughby walking round the This Morning studio.’

After the account described it as the ‘end of an era’, Ulrika, 56, commented by quipping: ‘Or the end of an error.’

Ulrika previously branded Holly and Phillip’s alleged fallout as a ‘war of the egos’.

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV.

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Piers expressed his support for his ‘old mate’.