Phillip Schofield has said his "career is over" and he has "lost everything" in an interview with the BBC following his departure from ITV's This Morning.
The 61-year-old sat down with Amol Rajan to tell his side of the story following weeks of rumour and speculation over the reasons he left and the discord behind the scenes.
They were "not boyfriends" he insisted, and they only had five or six romantic encounters over a few months - but he admits it was a "grave error" and that he shouldn't have partaken in it.
'I have lost everything'
In the interview on BBC News, Schofield added he doubted he would return to a career in TV.
"I have to talk about television in the past tense, which breaks my heart," he said. "I have lost everything.
"What am I going to do with my days? I see nothing ahead of me but blackness, and sadness, and regret, and remorse, and guilt. I did something very wrong, and then I lied about it consistently."
Schofield told the BBC that his colleague was 20 years old when he first had any kind of sexual contact with him and that their first romantic encounter took place in an ITV dressing room.
He added he understood people who thought there had been an abuse of power, but said it "didn't feel like that at the time".
"I fully appreciate there is a massive age gap, but that happens in life. I think there is an enormous amount of homophobia that it happens to be male, but if it was male-female then it wouldn't be such a scandal," he said.
Schofield first met colleague at school event
Schofield confirmed he first met the man he would go on to have an affair with when he was invited to appear as part of an event at a drama school many years ago.
He and the man began communicating on Twitter after they followed each other following the event. Schofield said the man asked for advice on working in the TV industry.
"What's wrong with that?" he asked. "What's wrong with talking to someone no matter what age they are, does that mean if you're following anyone on Twitter that you don't give advice?"
Phillip Schofield says he has "lost everything" and does not see a future for his career, in an interview with BBC News https://t.co/uoV4jsExLV
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) June 2, 2023
He continued: "I've done it all my life. I'm best friends with the people who got me into television, and I've always believed in paying it forward, so I didn't think about it."
When the pair met in person for the first time since the drama school event, Schofield said there was "absolutely not" any hint of sexual attraction.
He confirmed that his This Morning co-star Holly Willoughby "did not know" about the affair, adding: "Nobody knew.
"Rumours started, and then you lie. When you've had a workplace fling, you lie about it," he said.
