Phillip Schofield has said he won't watch Holly Willoughby's return to This Morning. The presenter will make a comeback to screens on Monday (June 5) for the first time since her co-host quit the show before admitting he lied to his bosses and colleagues about his affair with a younger ITV male employee.
Holly's return to presenting duties was confirmed at the end of Friday’s episode of This Morning, which was hosted by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary, and comes after she took an extra week's break from the ITV daytime programme following the initial news of Phillip's exit.
The Sun newspaper has since reported that Holly, who will appear alongside Josie Gibson after not hosting the show since May 18, is planning to address the Schofield controversy on the show, telling viewers how difficult it has been behind the scenes.
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It comes after Phillip said he “didn’t tell anybody” about his affair with his former This Morning colleague, confirming Holly “did not know” in a tell-all interview with BBC’s Amol Rajan.
Similarly in his interview with the Sun, the 61-year-old presenter apologised to his former co-star and friend for lying to her about his relationship, saying: “I’ve lost my best friend”.
He added: "I let her (Holly) down. I let that entire show down. I let the viewers down. Holly did not know (about the affair) and she was one of the first texts that I sent, to say: ‘I am so, so sorry that I lied to you’. She didn’t reply and I understand why she didn’t reply as well. So yeah, if anyone is in any way linking Holly to this, that is absolutely, wholly untrue."
The duo, who had presented the show together since 2009 and also co-hosted Dancing On Ice before Schofield resigned from ITV, had been open about their close friendship over the years.
But now, Phillip has said he won't be able to watch his former best friend carrying on presenting on This Morning without him, The Sun reports, but pals claim he wants her to 'shine'.
Following his decision to quit ITV altogether over what he says was an 'unwise but not illegal' relationship with the employee, in an Instagram post on Saturday, May 27, Phil's former This Morning co-star said she had previously asked him 'directly' if reports of the relationship were true.
She wrote: “It’s taken time to process yesterday’s news. When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie.”
Holly's This Morning return comes as ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall has been called to a parliamentary committee on June 14 to answer questions about the broadcaster’s approach to safeguarding and complaint handling following Phillip's exit. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, she confirmed the broadcaster had instructed barrister Jane Mulcahy KC of Blackstone Chambers to carry out an external review of the facts.
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