Holly Willoughby was reduced to tears when her This Morning presenting partner Phillip Schofield presented her with a basket of puppies as an early birthday gift.
The ITV star was ready to give viewers the usual rundown of what was in store for today’s show, until Schofield told her that he was planning to mark her birthday celebrations in style.
“What’s Sunday?” he asked, before adding: “Shall we start the presents already?”
As the This Morning team played a Happy Birthday fanfare, the 37-year-old admitted that they were “actually making [her] quite emotional, weirdly,” before Schofield surprised her with the Pomeranian puppies.
“This is my present to you,” he declared, as the adorable bundles of fluff were wheeled into the studio on a trolley decked out in balloons, as Puppy Love played in the background.
“They’re so cute! Can I pick one up?” Willoughby asked, before saying that the eight-week-old pups were “just the cutest thing [she’d] ever seen.”
“Oh my god, you are just so sweet!” she added, wiping away tears of joy.
Schofield even joked that he had asked Willoughby’s husband Dan Baldwin if she could take them home after the show had finished.
“I can’t believe you made me cry over a puppy,” she said, adding: “This is the best thing ever… But then I have to give it back!”
The presenter then wiped away yet more tears (with the help of her co-star) before beseeching her husband to let her keep one, telling the camera: “If my husband is watching, please, darling please! He just makes me cry, this dog.”
The daytime presenter was also moved to tears last week when she met a sheepdog puppy named Missy, who was in need of a new home.
Willoughby will celebrate her 38th birthday on Sunday February 10.
