The seven most shocking revelations to come from Phillip Schofield’s BBC interview

He believes homophobia played a major part in public outrage

11 months ago

The BBC interview with Phillip Schofield was 45 minutes long and it covered a lot. There were several talking points which we were all pretty familiar with but there were also aspects which gave us new information. Phillip Schofield also shared his thoughts on everything, including if he thinks he did or did not groom the young male runner at ITV. So here are the most shocking revelations to come out from the BBC’s interview with Phillip Schofield.

1. How their relationship came about and how they met

Phillip Schofield said he met the young man when he was invited to go to a school, something he had done “thousands of times.” He said: “Whether it was immediately or some time after, he said will you follow him on Twitter because he’s a fan. So I said yeah sure no problem, which I did. He probably came back saying thanks for the follow.”

Phillip confirmed the younger male was 15 at the time they first met and went on to explain he follows 11,300 people on the platform. Phillip said despite the large number of people he follows on Twitter, there has “never been any whiff of impropriety.”

He admitted they “hardly” messaged and described their communication as “on and off.” Phillip Schofield confirmed the person involved in the affair asked if they could come to ITV for work experience at around the age of 19. He said this wasn’t unusual and that he was a passionate believer in giving people the chance to work in TV.

The man was 20-years-old when he and Phillip first had sexual contact, Phillip claims. He said the man had been working there for “a few months” before their sexual relationship started. He said: “Then in my dressing room one day, something happened. Which obviously I will regret forever, for him and for me, mostly him. That happened maybe four or five times over the next few months and I know it’s unforgivable but we weren’t, we were friends, we weren’t in a relationship. I was really in a mess with my sexuality at the time. And it just happened.”

Phillip Schofield is adamant Holly Willoughby knew nothing about his affair and he passed it off as a “workplace fling.”

2. Phillip rejected all claims suggesting he groomed his younger lover

via BBC

Phillip Schofield rejected claims suggesting he groomed the younger male TV runner and said there was no sexual contact or flirting between the pair that would have been illegal. He confirmed Holly Willoughby had also known nothing about his relationship with the younger male.

Phillip also said he never loved his younger male partner and that the two were “just mates.”

3. Claiming the outrage was intensified by homophobia

Phillip Schofield said he believes homophobia has been a factor in the reaction to the news of his affair. He said: “If it was male-female then it wouldn’t be such a scandal.” He revealed a “very prominent public figure” even called him to say they’d “never seen such homophobia in all my life.”

Phillip continued: If it’s a gay relationship, then suddenly it raises eyebrows. People do find each other attractive in all age groups – it does happen.”

4. Denying allegations which claim he paid people off for publishing stories

Phillip Schofield caroline flack interview

via BBC

He confirmed he did not ask the man to sign an NDA, restricting him from speaking about their relationship. Phillip said his partner just wanted “all this to go away” and went on to say the man wants a “quiet life.” He also denied the existence of any legal process to prevent publications reporting their relationship.

5. Phillip admitting he has suicidal thoughts since his affair surfaced

Phillip said his daughters have saved his life. In the interview with Amol Rajan, Phillip said: “My girls saved my life, they said last week they haven’t left me for a moment. By my side every moment because they are scared to let me out of their sight. What is that like for someone’s daughters?”

“If you don’t think that that is going to have the most catastrophic effect on someone’s mind Do you want me to die? Because that’s where I am. I have lost everything,” he said.

6. His comparison to Caroline Flack

In the interview, Phillip compared himself to Caroline Flack who was found dead at the age of 40 in February 2020. A coroner later ruled she had taken her own lie after learning prosecutors were going to press ahead with an assault charge following an incident with her boyfriend.

7. Phillip’s desperate text to Holly Willoughby

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A post shared by Phillip Schofield (@schofe)

Phillip Schofield shared the test he sent to Holly Willoughby after admitting to lying about an affair with a younger colleague at This Morning. He said the text read: “Don’t reply, you’re probably not allowed to, but I am deeply, deeply sorry that I lied to you.”