EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Struggling Holly is blamed for men’s mistakes, says comic pal

Holly Willoughby faces an uphill battle to attract viewers to her YouTube series Together, which is billed as a ‘home for real conversations’.

The show got off to a shaky start when it launched last month. One of the guests, comedian Katherine Ryan, believes ‘traumatised’ Willoughby, 45, is struggling to win an audience as the public still holds a grudge against the former This Morning star over scandals including ‘queue-gate’.

In 2022, Willoughby and her co-host Phillip Schofield were accused of skipping the queue to see Queen Elizabeth’s coffin lie in state.

Ryan, 43, who appeared in the second episode of Together, tells me at the launch of a play on the West End: ‘I think she’s struggling because she might have jumped the queue to see the late queen with someone who turned out to be a bit of a creep.

‘People sometimes don’t realize this in a public situation, someone with so much profile is swept away and doesn’t even know what’s happening.’

Canadian-born Ryan, who appears on Channel 4 panel show 8 Out Of 10 Cats, believes misogyny has fueled the backlash against the mother of three.

Referring to Schofield, who resigned from ITV in 2023 after admitting to having an extramarital affair with a young male colleague, she said: ‘I think what’s happening is we’re being blamed for the actions of men. Did she have an illicit relationship with a junior male colleague or did the man? Did she lie to her wife about the state of the relationship, or was it a man?’

Ryan continued, “And then this guy tried to kill her. So I think she was linked to something she didn’t do and was traumatized by men.”

Gavin Plumb was jailed for life in 2024 for planning to kidnap, rape and murder Willoughby.

However, Ryan remains optimistic about Willoughby’s new career path. “I hope new audiences can see behind Holly Willoughby’s breakfast TV veneer, because she’s fun,” she says.

Club closes to members for party… and ‘£1 million’ bags

As summer gives way to autumn, one London club can celebrate a record harvest.

I’m talking about Hurlingham, whose 13,000 members pay up to £1,400 a year to stroll around 42 immaculately manicured acres in south-west London and occasionally spy the Princess of Wales dropping off one of her children for tennis lessons.

But this summer there was another bonus: one that made Hurlingham’s box office sing like a nightingale in Berkeley Square, albeit in a slightly more controversial way.

I can reveal that the decision to close the club to members one day in June, to the anger of some, so that French fashion house Hermes could hold a ‘very British garden party’ – with society figures such as Emma Thynn, Marchioness of Bath, and Martha, Lady Sitwell, among the guests – has significantly increased its coffers.

“Hurlingham paid three times as much for Hermes to host his party as he did for the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic in June, a four-day event,” says a London boulevardier. Hurlingham and Hermes declined to comment, but I understand the club secured ‘approximately £1 million’ for the deal. Game, set and match!

Suranne is a fan of service dog Daisy

Hopefully fans of Suranne Jones weren’t too offended when the Gentleman Jack star passed over those waiting for a selfie at BFI Southbank this week to pet black Labrador autism assistance dog Daisy.

“Dogs are the most important thing,” says Suranne, 48, during the preview of series three of the BBC thriller Vigil.

She is the proud owner of two dachshunds.

Movement above Ibiza! The Spanish party island may be preparing for the closing parties in September, but the summer party in Malta is far from over.

I hear the sun-drenched Mediterranean archipelago is set to become the next playground for London’s glamorous socialites, with a glittering crowd descending on the island next week for the star-studded launch party of the Hard Rock Hotel Malta St Julian’s, which opened its doors last month.

No festival for Royal Norway if king dies

A British wellness festival is gearing up to host a royal couple eager to share insights about love and spirituality.

But the Om and Bass event – ​​offering yoga and meditation workshops as well as ‘conscious’ raves – will have to make do without Princess Martha Louise of Norway, 54, and her husband Durek Verrett, a shaman who talks freely about his bisexuality and contact with aliens.

The princess mourns her father, King Harald, who died yesterday at the age of 89.

And to add to their problems, Durek, 51, underwent a kidney transplant this week, ruling out his participation in next weekend’s festival at Braziers Park. in Oxfordshire.

A representative for Om and Bass said: ‘We are sending them all our love and healing energy throughout [Durek’s] recovery, and we look forward to welcoming them to Om and Bass another time.”

My lips are sealed, but at All Points East in London’s Victoria Park Last Saturday I saw a prime time TV presenter tries his luck with a glamorous young photographer the VIP section.

To no avail – and it seems the esteemed broadcaster would like it to to brush up on his flirting skills. The snapper didn’t seem particularly impressed.

Meghan ally: British move could destroy marriage

Even Meghan Markle’s fiercest supporters are sounding the alarm about her and Prince Harry’s return to Britain, with one warning that the move could destroy their marriage.

Ugly Betty actress and social media star Fumi Desalu-Vold issued a cheeky warning to the Duchess of Sussex before the family arrived in Britain on Wednesday, urging her to think again.

‘It will destroy your marriage and you will eventually go back [to the US]she said in a video posted online. “Whatever the reasons you left six years ago, not only have they not changed, but they have been magnified.”

The former model, one of Meghan’s most prominent cheerleaders, added: “Maybe it’s related to health concerns about the king, but Meghan, you haven’t even arrived yet and you’re looking at the chaos.

“For your mental health, emotional health and physical health, I would reconsider.”

Well done: Nathalie’s search for Notting Hill

Locals may be fleeing this weekend’s Notting Hill Carnival, which is expected to attract a million revelers, but Nathalie Emmanuel is heading straight into the chaos.

The Game of Thrones star, 37, has had her nails painted to mark 60 years of Europe’s biggest street party.

A photo she posted online shows her thumbnails with the event’s initials, “NHC” and “60.” Nathalie says: ‘I absolutely love carnival.’

Bill Nighy took Yorkshire Tea and Marmite to India during the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Does the faintest trace of that homely comfort smell of his clothes? If so, it could unravel a mystery that is confusing the Oscar-nominated actor.

“The other day a woman – she came from abroad – came up to me and said, ‘You’re so English,’” 76-year-old Nighy tells me during a preview of his new film & Sons at the Curzon cinema in Mayfair. “I think, ‘What’s so English about me?'”

The Love Actually star says the same thing happened in Rome a while ago.

“A young woman walked up and said, ‘You look so English,'” he sighs, emphasizing that he didn’t look “particularly English” on that occasion. ‘Everything I wore came from somewhere else…’

(Very) modern manners

Rihanna sent James Corden a voice message asking him to participate in the 2025 film Smurfs – but little did the pop star know that he is not a fan of this way of communicating.

“I honestly believe that leaving a ballot is the most selfish act,” Corden says. ‘What you’re saying is: ‘I don’t have time for this text but you have time listen.”’

Gavin and Stacey’s co-star Ruth Jones is also a culprit, and he has labeled her voice memos “so annoying.”