ITV has said it investigated “rumours of a relationship” between Phillip Schofield and an ITV employee around three years ago but claim both parties “repeatedly denied” it. The veteran TV presenter resigned from the broadcaster on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency after admitting to an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a young male colleague on This Morning.
A spokesperson for ITV said on Saturday that the broadcaster was “not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour” when it looked into the matter in 2020. ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated”, the statement read.
“Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency YMU. In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
“Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.”
In his statement, Schofield apologised for lying about the relationship. “The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them (the Daily Mail), and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning,” he said.
“I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.” He added that “contrary to speculation” the relationship was “not illegal”.
He said: “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. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.”
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He denied that a superinjunction had been issued by him, or on his behalf, regarding the relationship. “When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing,” he said. “Nobody ‘forced’ me out. 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.
“In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship. 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.”
The presenter added: “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. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.”
