SHE’S the radiant mum-of-three who has become a national treasure since she started presenting This Morning with Phillip Schofield.
And even 12 years on from her debut on the ITV show, our recent survey revealed Brits are still being bowled over by Holly Willoughby.
Our exclusive Christmas poll found the 40-year-old was the woman Sun readers would most like to find in their stocking – with one in four admitting she was their celebrity crush.
But Holly is so much more than just a glamorous girl-next-door with a sunny smile.
Here, we reveal the science behind her incredible success.
Baby-faced
Women with childlike characteristics – large, round eyes, a large curved forehead as well as a small short nose and chin – are often viewed as more attractive according to research.
One study published by the American Psychological Association (1985) found they tend to be judged as more honest, kind and warm, and are even more likely to be found not guilty in court cases.
Plastic surgeon Dr Jacqueline Lewis of www.getharley.com says: “Holly is blessed with good underlying bone structure and soft tissue fat pads.
“The oval shape of Holly’s face and her ogee curve – the double S-shaped curve along the cheeks that gives the face contour and dimension – is also youthful and appealing.”
Holly conforms to classical ideals of beauty, first measured by the Greeks over 2,000 years ago.
They worked out the most attractive proportions in nature are the Golden Ratio – or Phi – which found that ratios of roughly two-thirds and one-third are most attractive.
In faces, this is worked out by comparing the height of the forehead with the length of the nose and the distance from the top of the mouth to the bottom of the chin.
Dr Lewis adds: “Holly’s facial proportions are close to the phi ideal, with more recent photos possibly showing enhancement of the lower third, with more refined chin definition.”
Halo effect
Women with blonde hair are seen as younger and healthier according to a study by the University of Minnesota (2017).
One theory is because our hair tends to darken with age, women with naturally lighter hair are viewed as more fertile.
However the downside, according to the study, is that blonde women are also seen as more promiscuous – a trait Holly has defied by being married to her former colleague Dan Baldwin for 14 years.
In Holly, the shade and shine of her hair combine to create a “halo effect”, says trichologist Iain Sallis.
He says this is not just because it’s a lighter colour, but because she uses styling products that make her tresses shine and reflect light.
Genuine smile
In a recent poll for World Smile Day, Holly’s grin was voted the best in Britain.
One reason may be that smiles are seen as more warm and genuine if they reach all the way up the eyes, as Holly’s does.
According to behaviour analyst Dr Cliff Lansley, of Manchester’s Emotional Intelligence Academy: “Holly may be likeable due to her pleasant smile.”
Dr Lansley explains how when Holly smiles, it pushes her full cheeks upwards, creating crow’s feet around her eyes, which make the expression look more “real”.
“This means Holly can fool most people that she is feeling happy, when in fact she’s choosing to look that way,” he says.
Her warm smile means she is also perceived as more relatable by viewers, according to Dr Uchenna Okoye, clinical Director of London Smiling Dental Group.
“Holly’s got a great smile so that gives her confidence,” she explains.
“When people see her on TV, they see a welcoming person who’s relaxed and happy, so they want to be part of that.”
Quirky features
Although Holly’s face fits ideals of feminine beauty, it is her quirks which also make her stand out.
To be considered truly beautiful, it helps to have a combination of classically attractive features combined with some more unusual, like Angelina’s Jolie’s voluminous lips, according to experts.
Consultant plastic surgeon Fulvio Urso-Baiarda, of the Eterno360 clinic, says: “Some studies on beauty indicate that people rated most attractive when they have ‘average’ features, but with a couple of exaggerated ones.
“So Holly’s features would tie in nicely with those findings.
“In her case, she has the classic inverted triangle face shape – defined jawline, strong chin, upper facial volume, good cheeks and cheekbones.
“But she also has exaggerated features, like a slightly wide mouth, a slightly large nose, and slightly widely-spaced eyes.”
Cheeky nickname
Celebrity Juice fans will be well aware of Keith Lemon’s naughty nickname for his former co-star – Holly Willoughbooby.
While her This Morning wardrobe is relatively conservative, she’s been known to show off her cleavage on the red carpet and in daring gowns on Dancing on Ice.
Sun Sexpert Georgette Culley says: “Holly is blessed in the boob department but another one of her great assets is her brilliant sense of humour. She’s embraced her cheeky nickname and enjoys showing off her cleavage.
“This shows she has a naughty side which is a far cry from her squeaky clean image on This Morning.”
Holly previously said she “doesn’t mind people fixating on my cleavage”, blaming Lemon for “bringing it into the main arena so people feel the need to talk about it all the time”.
“But it’s fine, it’s fine – they’re only boobs,” she added.
She loves red
As anyone who has scrolled through Holly’s Instagram feed – where she posts all her TV outfits – can tell, one of Holly’s favourite colours is scarlet.
It really does pay to be a lady in red, because the shade has a range of benefits for the way people see her.
A range of studies have found that women are seen as more attractive by men when dressed in red, compared to other hues.
In one study, men were shown pictures of a woman in a shirt digitally coloured either blue or red.
Time and again, the same woman wearing red was rated as more attractive and sexually desirable than when she wore other colours, such as blue or grey.
Professor Andrew Elliot, of New York’s University of Rochester, who has done a range of research into the effects of the colour, says: “We found that women view men in red as higher in status, more likely to make money and more likely to climb the social ladder. And it’s this high-status judgement that leads to the attraction.”
And far from seeing them as rivals, studies have found that women also admire females who wear red.
When Holly wore a red Falconetti dress on This Morning in December last year, it triggered a 2,700 per cent increase in searches for dresses of the same colour, as viewers tried to recreate the look.
Glowing skin
Smooth skin is seen not only as a sign of good health, according to a study in the journal Perception (2018), it’s also associated in people’s minds with trustworthiness, competence, maturity and attractiveness.
A clear complexion also works as a blank canvas which makes Holly’s features appear more attractive.
Plastic surgeon Fulvio Urso-Baiarda, of Windsor clinic eterno360.com, says: “Holly has amazing skin – in glow, texture and tone.
“If you have good skin, your features are more likely to be seen as attractive, so she has a very good start.”
Good listener
Holly has won praise for her down-to-earth presenting style and the interest she shows in the people she interviews – and she has even started a two-year course in psychotherapy at the Open University to help her understand them better.
Her genuine interest may be one of the secrets of her popularity, because asking questions is one of the reasons others like us more.
A 2014 study in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found men find “responsive” women who listen more feminine and sexy.
And people who ask questions are also judged as more likeable by both genders, according to a 2017 study by researchers at Harvard University.
Holly is also not afraid to show her soft side, admitting she struggled at school due to dyslexia, and is often moved to tears by the stories she hears on This Morning.
According to a 2018 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, showing vulnerability can help others view you more positively – a phenomenon called The Beautiful Mess Effect.
Bambi eyes
Our eyes don’t grow much in size after childhood.
They are already 75 per cent of their adult size when we are babies, and our faces grow bigger around them.
But the fact that Holly’s fine features allow her eyes to still look proportionally large gives her an open-eyed, innocent look.
According to Susan Sarangapani, consultant surgeon at Ophthalmic Consultants of London: “Their size relative to the rest of her face gives Holly her signature doe-eyed look.
“The expression ‘bright-eyed’ might have been invented for her.
“As well as having a bubbly and friendly personality that makes her a natural on TV, she is also blessed with classically beautiful eyes.
“Look closely and you’ll see they have an exquisite green colour and a perfect almond shape.”
Another reason for Holly’s Bambi eyes is that they show an unusually high amount of white.
The whites of her eyes – or sclera – are not only bright and clear, making her look healthier and more youthful, they also give her a more “wistful appearance”, according to www.getharley.com plastic surgeon Dr Jacqueline Lewis.
Pearly-white teeth
It’s no wonder Holly is happy to flash her smile, because experts say she has perfect teeth.
Dr Uchenna Okoye says the size of her teeth make her look more youthful.
“Children have two front teeth which tend to be bigger so the fact that Holly’s got this naturally makes her look younger,” she says.
The pearly-white shade of her gnashers also make Holly look more vibrant because our teeth naturally yellow with age.
However, when whitened in adulthood, like Holly admits her teeth have been, they also need to match her natural colouring so they don’t look fake.
Holly has got it right, says Dr Okoye.
“Our teeth get darker as we get older and the key thing is to look at the colour of the whites of the eyes,” she explains.
“The closer the colour of your teeth matches the whites of your eyes the younger you look, the more aesthetically pleasing it is.
‘When you look at Holly the colour of her teeth and the white of her eyes matches up, so her teeth don’t look fake.”
One more reason Holly has got a Hollywood smile is that she displays a lot of her front teeth.
Dr Okoye says: “The buccal corridors are the dark spaces in the corners of the mouth.
“With Holly, you see her teeth going all the way across, so you don’t see these dark spaces. Smiles like these welcome you in.”
Body confident
Holly never talks about her weight, saying that it’s a private matter which she avoids discussing because she “doesn’t want to encourage eating disorders”.
Holly says her secret is not to obsess, saying: “Everybody knows what leads to a healthy lifestyle.
“It’s not up to me to give you a blow-by-blow account of what I’ve eaten that day. It’s not helpful, and it’s not what’s important.”
The fact that Holly doesn’t moan or obsess about her body image is likely to make viewers feel more comfortable.
Plastic surgeon Fulvio Urso-Baiarda says: “We’ve seen Holly in a variety of weights and she really looks good in all of them, which is a positive message.”
Most beautiful age
Over the years the age when women are seen to be at their most beautiful is gradually rising.
According to scientists from the Boston University School of Medicine, 30 years ago the age when celebrity women were judged to be at their most attractive was 33.3 years old.
By 2017, it had risen to nearly 40 – the age Holly is now.
