Posing with two of her best friends, Holly Willoughby cracks a smile that says: ‘I’m back.’

The black and white photograph, which appeared on Instagram this week, showed her enjoying a celebratory lunch with former All Saints singer Nicole Appleton and music executive Shiarra Bell at an exclusive Mayfair restaurant.

‘Beautiful lunch with my beautiful girls,’ Holly wrote, tagging in the upmarket Italian, Il Borro.

On the face of it, it was nothing more than a girly afternoon – but for Holly it spelled out something rather more poignant.

It marked, almost a year to the date, the end of a truly ‘annus horribilis’ 12 months that nearly scuppered her career, and at one point had her fearing for her life.
+6
View gallery

Holly Willoughby shared a black and white photograph on Instagram this week as she enjoyed a celebratory lunch with former All Saints singer Nicole Appleton and music executive Shiarra Bell at an exclusive Mayfair restaurant

+6
View gallery

Holly hosted This Morning alongside close friend Phillip Schofield for 13 years before quitting the show last October following a turbulent few months

It was announced this week that Holly has signed a lucrative deal with Netflix to present a jungle-based reality show with survival expert Bear Grylls

For this time last year, rumours were at fever pitch about a growing rift between Holly and This Morning co-presenter, and close friend, Phillip Schofield, after 13 years as TV’s golden couple.

Then came Schofield’s confession that he’d had an affair with a much younger male colleague followed by his resignation from ITV. This was followed by the shock revelation of an alleged plot to kidnap Holly — a security guard is due to stand trial later this year.

In the end, Holly had had enough. She quit This Morning, hid from the public and was rarely seen.

But this week’s fun-filled lunch was also a celebration of a new start. The day before it was announced that Holly has signed a lucrative deal with Netflix to present a jungle-based reality show with survival expert Bear Grylls.

As the sole host, she will follow celebrity contestants as they compete against Grylls in South America. Holly is said to be ‘thrilled and excited’ about her new job, her first away from terrestrial television.

‘It is so wonderful to see Holly have a whole new start,’ says a friend of the star.

‘She has had a terrible year but what a way to end it. They say a year is a long time in showbusiness, and at times it has felt like a lifetime with everything that has happened in the last 12 months.’

The week also marks the relaunch of This Morning, with Cat Deeley and Holly’s close friend Ben Shephard replacing Holly and Phil as permanent presenters. Ben was due to team up with Holly, 43, in Phil’s role until she suddenly quit the show last October after being left shaken by the alleged kidnap plot.

Holly, who will remain working at ITV on its skating show Dancing On Ice, is said to be happy for them both and will ‘always hold a special place in her heart’ for the show.

While Holly has had her husband Dan Baldwin at her side throughout all the drama, as well as her three children Harry, Belle and Chester, it is her ‘girl gang’ that has pulled her through the dark times.

Along with Nicole and Shiarra, the likes of Christine Lampard, Emma Bunton and PR guru Niki de Metz have ‘kept her going’. I’m told there were times when Holly just wanted to hide from the outside world, even give up her glittering career as one of the country’s most famous presenters.

+6
View gallery

It is unlikely Phil and Holly – once so inseparable they holidayed in next door villas on the Algarve – will ever reconcile

+6
View gallery

The week marks the relaunch of This Morning, with Cat Deeley and Holly’s close friend Ben Shephard replacing Holly and Phil as permanent presenters

+6
View gallery

Holly will stay working for ITV on skating show Dancing On Ice, which she presents alongside Stephen Mulhern

‘She doesn’t know what she would have done without them,’ says a friend of Holly’s. ‘It has been hard. There were some absolutely devastating times, there were tears and there were moments when it felt impossible for Holly to smile but the girls managed to cheer her up. Holly has her family but sometimes you just need your mates.’

It is almost a year to the day when the life – and career – Holly had known for more than a decade, changed.

Last March when, just hours before she was due to arrive at the This Morning studio to present the show alongside co-star Phillip Schofield, Holly was told he wouldn’t be there.

Later, Holly found out that Schofield had told only the upper echelons of ITV he had taken an extended break while his brother Timothy was on trial for sexually abusing a teenage boy.

Indeed, it was far from common knowledge at the channel, where Schofield, 62, was viewed as a jewel in the crown of daytime television. Sources at the network say only a small number of senior staff were aware of the looming court case – but not his sofa ‘wife’.

It was, I am told, the last straw for their 17-year friendship. His decision to keep secret his brother’s crime, for which he later was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison, ‘hurt’ Holly so much that things were irreparable between them.

When Phil arrived back, Holly was absent, citing illness. Once she returned, it wasn’t long before the tensions between them were so obvious that their loyal This Morning viewers began to notice something was amiss.

Then came the briefing wars that their friendship had come to an end.

Phil decided to issue a statement calling Holly his ‘rock’ while admitting ‘the last few weeks haven’t been easy for either of us’.

The first Holly knew of his words, released through his former talent agency, YMU, was when she saw them on The Sun’s website.

‘She was furious,’ a friend told me at the time. ‘The gloves really were off. There was absolutely no way back.’

READ MORE: ‘Ultimate working mum’ Cat Deeley overcomes insider fears she is ‘too American’ for This Morning debut… but will have to spend most of her weeks away from husband Patrick Kielty, writes KATIE HIND

Next, Phil was ousted from This Morning but ITV claimed to have offered him a new show to host. However, he later revealed he had had a long-standing affair with a much younger colleague – and lied about it. Phil then quit ITV altogether and parted company with YMU.

It knocked Holly for six. One of the worst moments for Holly was the British public assuming she knew about Phil’s affair behind the back of his wife Stephanie Lowe. Holly issued a statement which said: ‘When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie.’

Her comments prompted numerous attacks while some insisted she would surely have had her suspicions given her closeness to Phil.

‘It was awful, why blame a woman for a man’s crime?’ said a source close to the situation. ‘Why one earth would Phil tell Holly if he was trying to have a secret romance with a younger colleague, which he himself admits was unwise? Imagine finding out something like this about someone who has been your friend for so long?’

After a short break, Holly returned to the show but worse was still to come. At the end of October a shopping centre security guard, Gavin Plumb, was charged with plotting to kidnap and murder the 42-year-old star – charges he denies.

Holly suddenly quit This Morning and went into hiding.

‘Holly was frightened and shaken,’ said a friend. ‘But she did the best thing by taking time away to get her head around it. She took a much needed break and surrounded herself with her loved ones. That got her through it all.’

The star kept a low profile until the week before Christmas when she enjoyed lunch at a restaurant close to her London home with husband Dan and her parents, Linda and Brian.

Sources close to Holly say there has been some communication between her and Phil since their fall out.

Phil sent her a message, friends say, on WhatsApp, to ‘check in’ and see if she was OK. It is also understood that Holly had previously contacted him when she returned to This Morning after his departure last June.

But despite their back and forth, it is unlikely the pair – once so inseparable they holidayed in next door villas on the Algarve – will ever reconcile.

‘Holly has moved on,’ says a friend. ‘It has almost destroyed her but she has come out the other side.’

I’m told that unlike Holly, Phil has no immediate plans to return to the limelight and is still ‘licking his wounds’.

Like the rest of us, he’ll be forced to watch his former ‘bestie’s’ Netflix debut on TV – and try not to think of what could have been.