In a shock tell-all interview just days after resigning from ITV’s This Morning, Phillip Schofield has said he did not “abuse his power” when having an affair with a much younger runner, and that he “sees nothing ahead but blackness.”
Speaking to BBC host Amol Rajan, the visibly shaken former host said he has been feeling suicidal over the past few days and “understands how Caroline Flack felt,” referring to the former Love Island presenter who died by suicide in 2020.
“Last week, if my daughters hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here,” said Schofield. “They’ve been by my side every moment because they’re scared to let me out of their sight. It’s like a weird numbness. I know that’s a selfish point of view but you come to a point where you just think how much are you supposed to take.”
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Schofield also used the interview to:
- Say his “career is over” and question what he is going to do with his days from now.
- Clarify the situation in detail with the runner who he had an affair with.
- Stress once again that no one was aware of the affair, including This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby. He said he apologized to Willoughby a few days ago, stating he was “desperately, desperately sorry.”
- State that homophobia was a factor in people who disapproved of their relationship, adding: “If it was male-female then it wouldn’t be such a scandal”
- Stress there are no more allegations to come. “It’s my biggest, sorriest secret,” said Schofield.
Schofield left This Morning with immediate effect last week but it was only a few days later that his affair with the runner, who the press is not naming, emerged in the media. He has already said he lied to ITV, his agency YMU, colleagues and friends, and ITV has since hired an external lawyer to investigate, while CEO Carolyn McCall will next week appear in front of the influential Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
Schofield detailed the situation with the runner who he had an affair with to Rajan.
He said he met the runner when he was 15 when he was invited to open a drama school, and at that point a photo with him was taken. Schofield was asked to follow him on Twitter and the runner was given work experience when he was 19, above the age of consent.
A relationship began a few weeks later and Schofield stressed it was always “consensual.”
“He had been working at the show for a few months and we’d become mates,” said Schofield. “Then in my dressing room one day, something happened,” he added, referring to a time when the man was 20.
Schofield said this happened “four or five times over the next few months,” adding: “Obviously I will regret this for me and him forever, mostly him.”
“I know it was unforgivable but we weren’t in a relationship,” he added. “I was in a mess with my own sexuality at the time and it just happened. I’d been 41 years in TV and nothing like this had happened before.”
Schofield, who was married to a woman, had recently come out as gay to the press and said homophobia was a factor in people who disapproved of the relationship, adding: “If it was male-female then it wouldn’t be such a scandal.”
The question of an “abuse of power” is valid, Schofield said, but he completely rejected the notion and said Rajan had painted an incorrect picture of events.
Schofield said he last spoke with the runner a couple of weeks ago when he engaged a lawyer to give him independent support.
Schofield said he is “massively” concerned about the runner’s welfare and the boy has not signed an NDA. “What he wants is for all this to go away,” added Schofield.
“The lie got too big for all of us. It was growing and growing and growing and crossed over from online to mainstream news.”
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