The younger of two daughters of the manager of a double-glazing company and an air stewardess, Willoughby was educated at the independent Burgess Hill School For Girls in the town of Burgess Hill in West Sussex. She went on to attend The College of Richard Collyer in Horsham.[citation needed]
In 1995, at the age of 14, Willoughby was spotted by talent scouts at The Clothes Show Live exhibition. Storm Model Management signed her up. She appeared in teen magazines for girls such as Mizz, Just Seventeen and More!. From 1998, at the age of 17, she started modelling underwear for various clients including Pretty Polly. She appeared in various adverts and posters
In 2000, Willoughby won an audition for a show on CITV featuring S Club 7 called S Club TV. In this show actors represented an alternative S Club. She also acted in a show called S Club 7: Artistic Differences. She played a character called Zoe alongside the regular members of the band. and after these shows, she worked as a receptionist for a while and then as a runner for the defunct shopping channel Auction World TV.
She also took on menial jobs and started an Open University course in psychotherapy. Then eventually she found work as assistant manager during which time she persuaded a friend to make a show reel of her. This show reel secured her an agent who then contacted the BBC.[5] Later in 2000, she presented a factual entertainment programme for children called Xchange. She went on to host several other children's shows for CBBC: X-perimental, and CBBC at the Fame Academy (CBBC's version of the BBC-TV talent show Fame Academy).
Her breakthrough as a children's entertainer came when she re-joined CITV in 2004 to co-present their flagship entertainment show Ministry of Mayhem which was aired on Saturday mornings. It was on this programme that she met her future husband Dan Baldwin, one of the show's producers. In 2006, the show's title was changed to Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown in order to reflect the popularity of its co-presenters, Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. During the final episode of the show (1 July 2006), Willoughby accidentally revealed one of her breasts during a particularly energetic routine. CITV received a small number of complaints, though the wider audience merely wrote the occurrence off as unfortunate. In 2005 Holly presented Feel the Fear, a children's entertainment programme in which the presenters are set unnerving challenges. She has also had a number of minor appearances on other children's programmes and programmes relating to children. She co-presented the final of the children's version of Stars in Their Eyes in 2004. The programmes listed below were broadcast on CITV in 2000. Keep Reading +
