Phillip Schofield made an emotional comment about his late father during his latest appearance on This Morning. The presenter hosted his last edition of the ITV daytime show of the week alongside Holly Willoughby on Thursday (June 23).
The pair were joined on the show by Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) CEO Simon Gunning and his colleague Wendy, who were on hand to give out advice in the latest phone-in. The latest segment was held the day after This Morning supported Calm's latest campaign with the help of Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas.
The programme opened up the phones to viewers who were either concerned for someone else's mental health or their own. One of those callers was a woman using the name 'Natasha'. She phoned in and explained that she had lost her father to suicide nine years ago, and is still struggling with the loss.
"I lost my dad nine years ago to suicide, it was completely unexpected," she explained to Holly, 41, Phillip, 60, and their two expert guests. "I feel like nothing's gonna get better unless my dad comes back, but that's never gonna happen."
After explaining how she speaks about her dad all the time to her seven-year-old son, 'Natasha' added: "It does help, but at the same time, like with his birthday, I get upset because he's not here." She also commented how people do not always sympathize now as a longer period of time has passed since her loss.
But Phillip was keen to try and make Natasha feel better about how she feels and related it to his own heartbreaking situation. "And the thing is that, you know he's still here, he's still there, he lives on through the family, he lives on through the children, lives on through achievements he might have had," the TV star said.
He then admitted: "My dad died in 2008 and I still miss him horribly," before adding: "But we still talk about him all the time and he's still around."
Phillip was 22 at the time his father, Brian Schofield, suffered a heart attack. Brian sadly passed away in 2008, aged 72. Phillip has previously spoken on the ITV show about the moment he 'brought his dad back' by performing CPR. He made the comment during a health segment on the programme last year following footballer Christian Eriksen's collapse on the pitch when he suffered a cardiac arrest.
The incident has triggered more calls for everyone to know how to give CPR and for more defibrillators to be available in schools and football grounds. "I brought my dad back doing that," Phillip told Dr Ellie Cannon as she showed them how to perform the life-saving treatment.
"And we got 20 extra years with him because of that, so you just never know," he said. "If I hadn't been in that night, then you know, that would have been it. So it is worth knowing," Phillip added.
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