When Phillip Schofield took an innocent phone call 12 years ago he never would have dreamed it could lead to the end of his This Morning career.
The 61-year-old may well now rue the day he took the call that would put in motion a series of events, leading to eventual exit from the hit ITV daytime show.
At that exact moment all those years ago, the phone call would not have seemed ill-omened or unusual, but rather a regular call any celebrity would receive.
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The Mail Online reports how a call from a friend of both Mr Schofield and his wife of 30 years, Stephanie Lowe, asked the presenter to talk to children at a theatre school in North-West England.
Katie Hind, Showbusiness Consultant Editor for the Daily Mail, reported Mr Schofield would have been “enthusiastic, encouraging and generous” with his time, reports the Express.
Ms Hind said: “It is easy to see how the schoolboy must have enjoyed the attention generated by this showbiz connection and, emboldened, he asked the presenter afterwards if he might help him land a job in television.”
The ex-This Morning presenter “promised” to get the boy an interview at the appropriate time, and he began working on This Morning when he was in his late teens. Ms Hind believes the relationship between the boy and the presenter was “close” and “unusually so” labelling it as an “ill-advised friendship” of Mr Schofield who would have been in his early 50s.
It is reported that colleagues noted the pair were often found “huddled in eateries” close to ITV’s riverside studios. The Mail Online also reports Phillip had been “inviting his young lover to glitzy functions”. ITV began investigating the rumours in 2020.
In February 2020, Mr Schofield announced he was gay live on air on This Morning, ready to “celebrate and be proud” of his sexuality. Not long afterwards, the young lover was moved to another ITV show. A source at ITV told the Mail Online at the time and described the move as “odd”.
Earlier this month, the presenter announced he was stepping down with “immediate effect” after more than 20 years on the programme during speculation of a rift between his co-presenter, Holly Willoughby, 42.
Shortly after the announcement, on May 26, Mr Schofield released a statement admitting he had an affair with a colleague stating it was “unwise” but “not illegal”. He wrote: “Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him get into television, it was only after he started work on the show that it became more than just a friendship.”
The Daily Mail also received a letter from Mr Schofield describing how he had “misled” Ms Hind and her colleagues at the Mail about his relationship with his ex-colleague at This Morning.
He said: “'At the time I genuinely thought that I was doing the right thing in trying to protect my ex-colleague whom I knew to be vulnerable and who desperately wanted the story not to be published.”
ITV also released a statement saying it investigated “rumours of a relationship” between Mr Schofield and a younger employee but the pair “repeatedly denied” the affair.
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