Phillip Schofield has quit This Morning after 21 years following claims of a behind-the-scenes rift with Holly Willoughby.
The pair hosted the ITV daytime series together since 2009, three years after they started their working relationship on Dancing on Ice.
In his exit statement, Schofield said he had decided to step down from the show as “ITV has decided the current situation can’t go on, and I want to do what I can to protect the show that I love”. Willouhgby “thanked” Schofield “for all of his knowledge, his experience and his humour”, adding: “The sofa won’t feel the same without him.”
In 2017, it was revealed that Willoughby had signed a new contract that matched Schofield’s annual salary of approximately £600,000 to £700,000.
Until then, Willoughby is believed to have been paid £200,000 less than Schofield.
This update came 12 years after it was claimed Schofield’s former co-host Fern Britton was paid £250,000 a year less than Schofield.
Britton quit the series in 2009, and Schofield has made no secret of their tumultuous working relationship.
In his 2020 memoir Life is What You Make It, Schofield said that, ahead of her departure from the show, Britton accused him of “meddling” with its content, forcing him to “calmly” tell her: “Please don’t do that to me again.”
Willoughby is taking a two-week break from This Morning, with Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary stepping in temporarily.
Though Schofield has left This Morning, he will host The British Soap Awards for ITV in June.
