It looks like TV legend Judy Finnigan won’t be signing up to Holly Willoughby’s wellness brand any time soon.
Speaking to Woman’s Own magazine (as reported by The Sun), Judy shared her scepticism of the wellness industry, calling out the stars who have launched their own wellbeing empires.
“Rosamund Pike is scathing about Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop website and claims the whole wellness industry is a con,” the former This Morning host said, referring to comments the Gone Girl actress made in an interview with The Observer in June.
“It’s politicised our food, politicised our exercise and I think it’s really dangerous,” Rosamund said at the time.
Judy praised the Golden Globe winner for her anti-wellness stance, and then singled out Holly’s off-screen venture Wylde Moon, described as “Holly’s official lifestyle and guidance brand”, for criticism.
“Hurrah! I’ve been waiting for someone to have a go, not just at Goop but at other ‘wellness’ websites such as Holly Willoughby’s Wylde Moon,” she said, adding: “Note the ridiculous woo-woo spelling, meant to sound elementally female.”
The former This Morning host, who headed up ITV’s daytime show from 1988 to 2001 along with husband Richard Madeley, didn’t hold back, suggesting that wellness businesses “make fortunes for their charismatic hosts under the guise of caring for women’s wellbeing”.
“I think we’re all being conned by the wellness industry,” she added. “The idea that it’s no longer enough to be healthy and we have to be ‘well’... I think it’s really dangerous.”
Holly, who joined This Morning eight years after Judy’s departure, launched Wylde Moon in 2021.
The website includes lifestyle, wellbeing and beauty advice, alongside a section devoted to astrology and crystals, and an online shop (plus, it famously credits “the moon” for “guidance and intuition” on a page dedicated to the Wylde Moon team).
Holly has previously noted that her side hustle won’t be for everyone. “I think that people struggle with some of the ideas,” she told Grazia last year. “The moment that I launched Wylde Moon, the word ‘wacky’ got used a lot.”
“I expected that,” she admitted. “And that’s fine. I can’t change that. I’m not here to force any of this on anybody. It’s not ‘come and meditate with me’ or ‘look at the moon and play a sound bowl.’”
“I’m not afraid of the reaction to it any more. If it doesn’t fit with what your thoughts and expectations of me are, well then there’s nothing I can do about it.”