Holly Willoughby: ‘I worry about the effect social media will have on my children’

Worried: Holly Willoughby is concerned about her childen's use of social media
Diet Coke
Jennifer Ruby3 March 2017
The Weekender

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Holly Willoughby says she fears the effect social media will have on her three children.

The This Morning presenter said she wanted to be equipped to help her children Harry, seven, Belle, five, and Chester, two, navigate the internet in the future.

Willoughby, 36, the new Diet Coke ambassador, said cyber-bullying was a “huge problem”.

“When we were kids we’d go home and at least we’d have hours where nobody could get to you and you could just regather your thoughts,” she said.

“Now it’s just not like that and we’ve seen how serious it gets: children taking their own lives.”

New role: Holly Willoughby is the new Diet Coke ambassador
Diet Coke

“It is a huge problem and I listen with absolute open ears on the show at the moment because I’m not quite there yet but I know I will come across these things and I want be equipped myself deal with it.

“I don’t know if I’ve got the answers yet, I know if you keep lines of communication open with youre children that really helps and I think that’s all you can do I think.

"I don’t think you can ban it because then, you know, the biggest thing about being a child at school is not being the one that sticks out for being different.

"If you’re the one who’s not allowed because your mum doesn’t let you, you become that figure of difference and that’s when the problems start.

"That’s how they communicate and you have to remember also that those platforms are also used for really good ways of socialising for teenagers or older children so I don’t think you can hold back the tide, I think that would be very naive as a parent."

Willoughby has already spoken to her children about the meaning of fame after watching her get stopped in the street for selfies.

“We’ve kind of had a big conversation about being famous and what that means and you know, my big thing is that you have to be famous for doing something you really love and working really hard and bring passionate about something otherwise it doesn’t count.

“And like that wasn’t my intention [to be famous], it sort of happened. I don’t want them growing up going ‘oh you’re famous’, you know, then I’d feel like I’d sort of failed them in some way.”

Diet Coke is offering you the chance to get your gang back together by winning an ultimate penthouse stay in London, Paris, Rome, Dublin or Barcelona so head to the Facebook Page for more details.

Holly Willoughby - In pictures

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