Phillip Schofield has sensationally stop ITV and admitted to an affair with a youthful male colleague at This Morning whereas he was nonetheless married.
The 61-year-old – who stepped down from presenting the daytime TV programme final Saturday – mentioned the “consensual on-off relationship” was “unwise, however not unlawful”.
Schofield mentioned he was “very sorry” for the affair, which occurred whereas he was married to his spouse of 30 years, Stephanie Lowe.
The TV presenter admitted he lied in regards to the relationship to ITV, his colleagues, buddies and his brokers, YMU, who’ve since parted methods with Schofield.
He advised the Day by day Mail: “In an effort to guard my ex-colleague, I haven’t been truthful in regards to the relationship.
“However my current, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled hypothesis and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is vital for me to be sincere now.
“I’m painfully acutely aware that I’ve lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and buddies, to my brokers, to the media and subsequently the general public and most significantly of all to my household. I’m so very, very sorry, as I’m for having been untrue to my spouse.
“I’ve subsequently determined to step down from the British Cleaning soap Awards, my final public dedication, and am resigning from ITV with rapid impact expressing my immense gratitude to them for all of the wonderful alternatives that they’ve given me.”
An ITV spokesperson mentioned: “We’re deeply disillusioned by the admissions of deceit made tonight by Phillip Schofield.
“The relationships we now have with these we work with are primarily based on belief. Philip made assurances to us which he now acknowledges had been unfaithful and we really feel badly let down.
“We settle for his resignation from ITV and subsequently can affirm that he won’t be showing on ITV as had beforehand been acknowledged.”
Schofield’s departure from This Morning got here amid experiences of a rift with Holly Willoughby, with whom he had been presenting the programme since 2009.
Willoughby and Schofield attracted criticism in September final yr after they had been alleged to have skipped forward of the general public queue for the Queen’s mendacity in state. The pair denied the accusation and mentioned their go to was ““strictly for reporting” and complied with accredited media entry guidelines.
This yr they’ve each taken breaks from This Morning for various causes. Schofield took pre-planned go away from the present across the time of his brother’s intercourse abuse trial at Exeter Crown Courtroom final month. Timothy Schofield, 54, was convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a toddler between October 2016 and October 2019, together with two of sexual exercise with a toddler.
In an announcement after the responsible verdict, Philip Schofield mentioned his brother’s crimes had been “despicable” and welcomed the responsible verdicts.
In April, Willoughby additionally took time without work from the ITV morning programme as a consequence of having the painful rash shingles, which is brought on by the identical virus as chickenpox. ITV has mentioned Willoughby will “co-present with members of the This Morning household” when she returns on Monday 5 June.
After his departure from This Morning, Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary crammed in on the present on Monday. Opening the printed, Hammond mentioned: “We will’t begin at present’s present with out paying tribute to the person who spent the final twenty years sitting on the This Morning couch: Phillip Schofield.”
O’Leary added: “In order a present, everybody on and off display screen at ITV and This Morning on say an enormous thank-you to Phil for what he’s executed to make the present so successful over the past 21 years.”
The duo co-presented the programme on Monday and Tuesday, whereas Craig Doyle took the helm with Hammond on Wednesday.
Mary Bekhait, the Group CEO of YMU, mentioned: “Honesty and integrity are core values for YMU’s complete enterprise, defining every part we do. Expertise administration is a relationship primarily based totally on belief.
“This week, we now have discovered necessary new details about our consumer Phillip Schofield. These info contradicted what Phillip had beforehand advised YMU, in addition to the exterior advisers we had introduced in to help him.
“Because of this, on Thursday we agreed to half firm with Phillip, with rapid impact.”
In an announcement from his attorneys, Schofield mentioned: “It’s with probably the most profound remorse that after 35 years of being faultlessly managed by YMU I’ve agreed to step down from their illustration with rapid impact.”
Schofield, 61, began his profession as a bookings clerk on the BBC however later moved to New Zealand, the place he took TV and radio work.
He returned to the UK in 1985 to and have become a continuity announcer for Kids’s BBC, a slot that additionally made a star of a puppet referred to as Gordon the Gopher, and offered the Saturday morning present Going Stay from 1987 to 1993.
Schofield was given the job at This Morning in 2002 following the arrest of then presenter John Leslie, later launched with out cost. He co-presented the present with Fern Britton, who later stop and was changed by Willoughby.
In February 2020, Schofield introduced he was homosexual and praised his “exceptional” and “wonderful” spouse Stephanie for her help. He shares two grown-up youngsters, Molly and Ruby, together with his spouse.