Phillip Schofield has admitted having an affair with a much younger man who worked with him on This Morning and resigned from ITV over his lies about the relationship.
The television presenter, 61, issued a statement on Friday night in which he admitted the relationship was “unwise” but then stressed it was “not illegal”. The career of one of ITV’s most bankable stars may now be over, 38 years after he first appeared on British TV screens.
Schofield dramatically stepped down as presenter of ITV’s flagship daytime programme last week amid reports of a feud with his co-star Holly Willoughby.
On Friday night, he said he was “deeply sorry” for having lied to his wife and to ITV about his relationship with a young man reportedly 30 years his junior and who he first met as a teenager.
But he said the affair – which he described as “on-off” – had only begun once the young man began working on the ITV daytime show.
“Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship,” said Schofield, adding: “That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.”
I’m sure I recall reading about this back when we had that shreiking perfomance over “I’m gay!”.
Given the way the reporting works here it’s difficult to work out what the fuss is. Obvs, it’s not the gay bit. Which leaves us between the modern sins of either shagging the staff or lying about it.
The official announcement…
https://www.facebook.com/RedPillPhilUK/videos/200029679647647
Perhaps the fuss is because he blindsided the media about his behaviour for so long and for the sake of maintaining a false image. Journalists don’t like being made fools.
Having dealt with media figures in my career, my guess is that he was an incredible shit who was pandered to because he was successful and famous and is now being kicked because he has confessed to being a liar and a cheat and so is vulnerable to public opprobrium.
Luvvies and meeja don’t believe in “revenge is best served cold”. They prefer screaming and writhing…
Maybe, just maybe, the information about PS being gay and having the affair with the young guy was common knowledge amongst the luvvies many moons ago. Journalistic sniffing was starting to piece together the story and a press expose was looming.
Solution.
Be incredibly brave and suddenly ‘come out’ (just before the printing of Sunday newspapers) thereby spiking the imminent redtop story.
Rapturous applause for your sexuality, wife and children blindsided and thrown under a bus, but bad publicity swerved and The Brand saved.
Allegedly
“Journalists don’t like being made fools.”
So why do they OK with doing it to us?
So it seems that he groomed this lad and then got him a job at ITV to ensure regular bottom access. Pretty bad.
Shirley this had been common knowledge for years ? The Holmes couple certainly knew about it. I guess that there had been no smoking er… gun to finger ( sorry ) Schofield before. Although I find that hard to believe and that it was his bro’s conviction that broke the dam.
( As an aside. When that Welsh rugger player came out and said that he had HIV, he was applauded for his bravery etc. There was a comment at the time that went along the lines of:
“If I went into the office on Monday and told everybody that I had syphillis, I’m not sure that they’d all start high-fiving me and telling me how brave I am.”)
Consider the possibility that this is a cover story for something else. Something worse? When we had to accept gayism didn’t it come with an implicit acceptance of all their lifestyle variations?
How many dogs had monkeypox, exactly?
What Rhoda says.
Normally a celebrity admits to things as PR damage control because something worse is about to drop.
Dunno if we’ll see him toting an oxygen mask and a walking stick like Harvey Weinstein tho.
I think the opprobrium came because Schofield er… “took a keen interest” in the guy when he was a teenager even though the job and shagging only came when he was of age. Legal of course, but leaves a nasty taste in the mouth….
The bit of the statement that struck me was ‘unwise but not illegal’
Seemed to be completely at odds with the rest of the statement
Who was alleging any illegality??
All those years in kids TV….makes you wonder….
The presenter added: “When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody ‘forced’ me out.
Bollocks.
“Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me.
Sus.
“In an effort to protect my ex-colleague, I haven’t been truthful about the relationship.
“Marge, I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about my busy hands. Not so much for myself, but I am *so* respected, it would damage the town to hear it. Good night!”
“But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake, it is important for me to be honest now.
As you do in carefully worded PR statements.
“I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family.
Remember, he’s done nothing wrong, and he’s very, very sorry.
“I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.”
Right.
I remember how shocked I was to discover he was married with children.
When he made his “brave” announcement there was already talk of his “mentoring” juniors on the program. I daresay there’s a lot more to come out 🙁
Being gay and not celebrating it and talking about it all the time is worse than not being gay at all. It’s a wasted opportunity, see? The man must be punished.
How very bourgeois, screwing the “Help”.
Then again, after the outrages of Frank Bough is anyone surprised at the goings on of Breakfast TV?
No doubt the Metropolitan Police are seriously considering interviewing Gordon the Gopher. The cupboard also has questions to answer.
Who cares? He’s one of those celebrities who is famous for being famous and if it hadn’t been for Gordon the Gopher he’d have probably been yet another one of those Saturday morning TV presenters who disappeared into vast list of could have beens.
He hasn’t committed a crime, there appears to be no shame in abandoning your wife and children anymore so let him disappear in to the obscurity he deserves.
“ Then again, after the outrages of Frank Bough is anyone surprised at the goings on of Breakfast TV?”
I owe Frank because he did me a very big favour in the early days of morning TV. I remember it like it was yesterday*. It was 1985 and I’d got in to the habit of turning the TV on when I as having breakfast and get ting ready for the course I was on. I was in the middle f tying my boots when he said something so banal I got up, walked across the room and turned the TV off. I haven’t watched breakfast TV since.
*Nowadays I can’t remember yesterday but I can remover 1985 like it was yesterday (:
He hasn’t committed a crime
As far as we know.
Looks like there’s worse to come for Phillip, judging by the preemptive press releases. Hopefully nothing worse than “twink boyfriend”, which is skeezy and therefore not (yet?) daytime and/or Saturday night TV friendly (sorry Matthew and Michael, it’s not awlwight.)
FWIW, from the general bitchiness of the drama so far, I wouldn’t have PS down as anything worse than your average celebrity queen. Very much doubt he’s done anything illegal, but he seems to be quite stupid and extremely unpleasant irl, and this may be the British entertainment industry finally, belatedly piling on a bully in his moment of weakness.
So he started his career with his hand up a gopher’s bottom, but now we’re supposed to be all surprised that he’s got odd peccadillos?
if it hadn’t been for Gordon the Gopher he’d have probably been yet another one of those Saturday morning TV presenters who disappeared into vast list of could have beens.
Indeed BiND. Going Live was his Saturday show, but because I was so in love with copresenter Sarah Greene I never noticed him.