Did Phillip Schofield’s mother help him make a clean breast of This Morning affair?
Phillip Schofield quit ITV last night after admitting to having an affair with a much younger man – a week after he left This Morning and was pictured having a personal talk with his mother.
Schofield, 61, was spotted in Cornwall last Saturday confiding in his 85-year-old mother Pat, who had fled to the county after news of his departure from the show became public.
The mother and son are “extremely close and he would have listened carefully to her opinion,” a source told The Sun, after the presenter was spotted talking to her in a car park for two hours.
In a dramatic fall from grace, Schofield has gone from being the face of ITV’s flagship show to no longer being a talent agent for over 20 years after confessing to lying to bosses about his relationship with a young member of staff.
It comes during an extremely difficult time for his mother, after her youngest son, Timothy, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for a series of child offenses earlier this month.
Phillip Schofield, 61, was spotted in Cornwall last week confiding in his 85-year-old mother Pat, who had fled to the county after news of his departure from This Morning became public.
The mother and son are “extremely close and he would have listened carefully to her opinion,” a source told The Sun
The family grew up in Newquay, Cornwall and Phillip has previously made the 300 mile journey from London to confide in his mother, who still lives there.
In 2020, while still married to his wife of 27 years Stephanie Lowe, Phillip revealed that he had traveled to Cornwall to come out to his mother.
He described her “immediate acceptance” when he revealed he was gay to the This Morning audience, saying she told him she “didn’t care” about his sexuality.
The former This Morning presenter said at the time he felt relieved to have made the revelation, but admitted it had caused “pain and upset” and had him having “heartbreaking conversations” with his wife and daughters.
He has since pulled out of the show, and photos from last week showed him looking dejected as he spoke to his mother amid the fallout.
Pictured after his statement of departure on Saturday, the veteran presenter looked tired and serious as he sat in the front of the vehicle with his mother.
He appeared to be having tense phone conversations and was seen vaping and staring out to sea with his body language appearing dejected.
Last night, Schofield revealed that he lied to his family and friends about an affair he had with a younger man who worked on his show, whom he met when he was a teenager.
Phillip Schofield appeared downcast and dejected as he called on the phone the day after being forced to present This Morning on Friday
Troubled TV presenter Phillip Schofield sits in his car next to his mum, 85, in Cornwall
In a bombshell statement to the Daily Mail, the veteran TV presenter admitted that he and the man had begun a relationship that was more than just a friendship.
The embarrassed TV presenter described it as “unwise but not illegal.”
Schofield further confessed to lying to his employer ITV, to his colleagues, his friends and his agents at the management firm YMU.
The bombshell revelation isn’t the only pain his family has endured in recent weeks, with Schofield’s brother, Timothy, now more than a decade behind bars.
The conviction of the 54-year-old police IT technician for sexually assaulting a teenage boy put the relationship between the siblings under scrutiny.
It comes during an extremely difficult time for his mother, after her youngest son, Timothy, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for a series of child offenses earlier this month.
Phillip told his brother’s trial that they did not have a close relationship due to their seven-year age difference and that he had left home when his brother was ten.
Commenting on the jury’s verdict, Phillip said: ‘My overwhelming concern is and always has been for the well-being of the victim and his family.
“I hope their privacy is now respected. If my brother had ever confessed to a crime to me, I would have acted immediately to protect the victim and his family.
“These are despicable crimes and I welcome the convictions. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a brother anymore.’