THIS Morning paid a touching tribute to Holly Willoughby after she quit the show yesterday.
The TV presenter, 42, confirmed her 14-year stint was coming to an end in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
Holly's announcement came just days after she was taken off air by ITV when Gavin Plumb's alleged plot to kidnap and kill her was uncovered by cops.
On Wednesday morning, a series of emotional messages flashed up during the opening titles of This Morning.
It read: "End of an era," followed by "family comes first," and "we'll miss you".
The last message read: "Goodbye Holly."
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Rochelle Humes, who is presenting alongside Craig Doyle, kicked off the show by saying: "Hello and welcome to your Wednesday's This Morning and of course we want to send our love, best wishes and respect to Holly."
Craig continued: "Last night Holly made what we know will have been a heartbreaking decision to leave This Morning after 14 years."
"Holly loved her job here," Rochelle added.
"And was really looking forward to the future of the show, but recent events, especially in the past few weeks, have been hard to deal with.
"She is quite rightly putting her family first."
Craig said: "On behalf of everyone here, front and behind the camera, we just loved working with Holly and she made coming to work so much fun.
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"We're all really really sad and we're really going to miss her."
Rochelle agreed: "Holly has said she's incredibly proud of what she's achieved on this show and so are we."
"She will forever be one of us."
Craig ended the statement by saying: "As Holly knows only too well, the show must go on."
Holly made the difficult decision to leave the ITV show yesterday.
Holly's statement said: "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. I will not be returning to This Morning.
"Thank you to everyone at ITV for being supportive. To every guest who has sat on our sofa, thank you.
"Most of all, thank you to the wonderful viewers. You’ve been so loyal, so supportive and the very best company every day."
Holly also said it had been an "honour" to be part of the show, adding that it has "many chapters left to go".
She is understood to have been in constant contact with ITV after being taken off air when an alleged plot to kidnap and murder her was uncovered last week.
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In recent months Holly has also dealt with the end of her friendship with former co-presenter Phillip Schofield after admitting he lied about an affair with a younger employee.
She and Schofield also faced criticism over "Queuegate" in September last year, when the pair were accused of jumping the queue to see the late Queen lying in state at London's Westminster Abbey.
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