The fallout from Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger lover would be ‘catastrophic’ for the shamed TV star if the full details were revealed, a source has claimed.
The former This Morning presenter, who quit the show in disgrace after his liaisons with a male colleague 34 years his junior became public knowledge, has been in the wilderness since admitting to the affair last May and telling his ITV employers lied.
It has now been revealed that the 61-year-old paid his former lover a six-figure sum in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), meaning the younger man can never talk about their relationship again.
A lawyer acting for Schofield confirmed that a deal had been signed last year with a ‘mutual confidentiality clause’ and a payment to compensate the man for the losses suffered.
Although the father-of-two has barely been seen on TV since the scandal, a source familiar with the NDA has told the Mail on Sunday that the full details of the affair could cause him further pain if they were ever revealed.
Disgraced Phillip Schofield has paid his much younger lover a six-figure sum in a deal that will prevent him from ever talking about their relationship, The Mail on Sunday can reveal
Schofield with the man he had an affair with and former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby
Schofield, 61, has been in the wilderness since he admitted the affair and lied to his ITV employers in an extraordinary mea culpa to the Mail last May
A romantic relationship between the pair began when the man was in his 20s, after which he moved to another ITV daytime show, Loose Women.
In an extraordinary mea culpa to the Email last May.
A romantic relationship between the pair began when the man was in his 20s, after which he moved to another ITV daytime show, Loose Women. He later left the channel with a separate payout.
Despite the clause preventing either party from talking about the affair, Schofield revealed intimate details of their relationship when interviewed by the BBC’s Amol Rajan last June.
A source familiar with the NDA told The Mail on Sunday: “The young man has been vulnerable for some time. That’s no secret.
“Several matters were paid for following Phillip’s decision to speak out about his relationship and as part of this a non-disclosure agreement was drawn up and signed.
‘It means Phil knows his young ex will never be able to talk about their relationships again, which means he can probably sleep a lot better now.
‘He has lost a lot, but imagine if the full details were to become known – that would be quite disastrous for him.
‘As for the young man, let’s hope he can now move on with his life and rebuild it – but that’s not easy.
‘And it’s a bit of an exaggeration to present an NDA after Phil had his say at the BBC last year.’
The man – only referred to as Person
In the BBC interview, Schofield insisted he had not groomed the young man after meeting him at a drama school.
Phllip Schofield and Holly Willoughby in the television show ‘Dancing On Ice’ in February 2023
Schofield admitted the relationship with a younger male colleague (pictured together)
Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby embrace as he comes out as gay TV show ‘This Morning’ in 2020 before the pandemic
Phil and Holly photographed on This Morning twenty years ago, in 2004
Admitting he was ‘utterly heartbroken and ashamed’, he added: ‘We were friends, and then one day something happened in my dressing room that I will obviously regret forever, for him and for me – especially him – but that happened. maybe four or five times in the next few months.
“I know it’s unforgivable. But we weren’t friends. We weren’t in a relationship. I was really struggling with my own sexuality at the time, and it just happened.”
Schofield also said the man got his role on This Morning ‘on his own merit… because he was very good at his job’. He added: ‘Everyone loved him. He worked very hard.’
The former Dancing On Ice host took part in the interview after confessing to the affair he carried on behind his wife Stephanie Lowe’s back.
In his impressive statement to the Ny Breaking, Schofield described the relationship as ‘ill-advised but not illegal’, while admitting that he had lied to his colleagues, his friends and his agents at the management firm YMU.
In the statement he said: ‘I am making this statement through the Ny Breaking, to whom I have already personally apologized for misleading, through my lawyer whom I also misled, about a story they made about me a few days ago wanted to write. .
‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry that I lied to them, and many others, about a relationship I had with someone who worked on This Morning.
‘I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
“Contrary to speculation, while I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him get on television, it wasn’t until he started working on the show that it became more than just a friendship.
‘That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It’s over now.’
The young man, now 27, declined to comment on the deal or its details.