Alison Hammond broke down in tears on This Morning as the show finally addressed Phillip Schofield's exit and affair with a much younger colleague.
In emotional interviews last night and this morning, Phillip finally broke his silence as he spoke about his difficult few weeks and addressed meeting the younger man and later starting an affair.
Opening the ITV show today, Dermot O'Leary announced that Phillip's interviews were the "big story of the day" and that they "didn't want to shy away from it".
They aired a clip of Phillip interviewed by the BBC's Amol Rajan, in which the former host said he felt a "strange numbness" over the last few weeks.
"It's been very difficult for us to cover this story," Dermot admitted. "He's a friend and a colleague."
They were joined by guests Gyles Brandreth and Sonia Sodha, and the four of them gave their thoughts on the situation.
"Like he said, there have been many things that have been said and there's going to be an external review that will go into that," Gyles began.
"But watching this clip, I was reminded of a great saying by a writer, Henry James, who said, 'In life there are three rules - the first rule is be kind, the second rule is be kind, the third rule is be kind.'"
Dermot interjected, saying that he thought interviewer Amol did an "incredible job".
"Because it wasn't without empathy but at the same time very much held Phil to account," Dermot said.
Sonia agreed, saying: "I think that's right and I think that's very important because I think Phillip has admitted wrongdoing in the workplace, he's admitted lying about that wrongdoing in the workplace. And I think for me, having an affair with a much, much younger colleague does constitute an abuse of power in the workplace.
"So I think it's absolutely right that ITV have launched an external review that's going to be done by a senior, independent lawyer that's going to look at exactly what happened. I think it's very important that we all look at the findings of that when they come out."
Another clip was shared of Phillip saying that his TV career was over.
Alison became visibly emotional as she began to cry and said: "I'm finding it really painful, I loved Phillip Schofield, it's weird because I still love Phillip Schofield, however, what he's done is wrong. He's admitted it, he's said sorry, as a family, we're all really struggling to process everything I never know what to say.
"I remember what my mom said, my mom always said 'use your Bible as your satnav in life Al, in the Bible it says 'he without sin, casts the first stone,' I don't want to say anything bad because I'm in conflict."
Earlier this week, the pair addressed claims that This Morning was a "toxic environment", as they revealed they "love" working on the programme.
Opening the programme on Monday, Dermot said: "We know we have been in the news at the moment. But just from both of us, and the whole team here, the crew, the guys downstairs, we love making this show for all of you."
Alison added: "We really do and that's exactly what we're gonna do - we're continuing to do that."
Regular guest Gyles Brandreth, who was on the sofa, added: "We're very happy to be here, can I say that? This is a happy place to work, I enjoy coming in here. We are happy people in a happy place with interesting stories."
Reflecting on his relationship, Phillip issued an unexpected statement on his social media insisting that while his decision was "not illegal", it was "unwise".
Phillip says he met his ex-lover aged 15 before a 'consensual moment' 5 years later.
"I did not, I did not (groom him)," he told The Sun, before going on to explain that he is aware of the accusations he is facing on social media, insisting that while their relationship was "unwise", he did not groom the man.
Schofield said the affair began in 2017 after a "consensual moment" in his dressing room.
During the BBC News interview, clarifying the nature of their relationship when the former colleague was underage, Amol Rajan asked: "Just be really clear, your relationship between when you met him when he was 15 and then when he was 18 was occasional direct messages… no pictures of each other sent to each other?"
Schofield responded by shaking his head.
Asked whether the messages were flirtatious, the former TV presenter said: "Just work-related, just career advice, career help."
Schofield also agreed there was "no sort of sexual forwardness" at that time by another shake of his head.
Schofield said that while romantic encounters happened at the ITV studios nobody on his team knew about the relationship.
