Phillip’s tears as he says: I’m gay
Schofield tells of guilt over family as he reveals he is gay on live TV
ONE of Britain’s best-loved television presenters yesterday stunned the nation by revealing that he is gay. In a candid interview live on TV, Phillip Schofield, who has been married for 27 years, detailed the lengthy torment over his sexuality and said he needed to be ‘honest’ with himself.
Schofield, 57, admitted his ‘overriding emotion’ for his family was ‘guilt’, saying he was ‘very conscious of the hurt’ his announcement would cause.
The tearful presenter made the revelations on ITV’s This Morning while talking to co-presenter and friend Holly Willoughby, just minutes after publishing a statement to his 2.9 million Instagram followers.
Schofield said he had suffered ‘very dark moments’, adding: ‘In some cases talking to people saves you.’ He admitted that coming out as gay had ‘consumed’ his thoughts for a long time.
The TV star praised his ‘incredible’ 55-year- old wife Stephanie, from whom he ‘never had any secrets’. The next steps for the couple are not clear but Schofield was still wearing his wedding ring.
He revealed how difficult it was to break the news to his daughters – Molly, 27 and Ruby, 24 – but said they had shown their ‘love and support’ by giving him ‘a big hug’. His mother Pat, 83, told him: ‘I don’t care.’
Schofield denied his hand had been forced or that there was anyone else involved in his decision.
His Instagram statement said: Candid: ITV’s Phillip Schofield ‘With the strength and support of my wife and my daughters, I have been coming to terms with the fact that I am gay.’
It added: ‘My family have held me so close: they have tried to cheer me up, to smother me with kindness and love, despite their own confusion. Yet still I can’t sleep and there have been some very dark moments. My inner conflict contrasts with an outside world that has changed so very much for the better.’
The revelation comes after a tumultuous few months for the Oldham-born presenter, who shot to fame on children’s TV, following accusations of rows with colleagues. He was accused of creating a ‘toxic’ working environment on the This Morning set, with allegations of spats with Miss Willoughby, 38, and fellow presenters Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes. He has
denied the claims. When Miss Willoughby asked Schofield why he was announcing it now, he said: ‘You know this has been bothering me for a very long time, and I think that everybody does these things at their own speed, at their own time, when they feel the time is right.
‘There’s no question that it has, in recent times, consumed my head, and has become an issue in my head.’
Speaking about his wife, Schofield said: ‘Yeah, it’s tough, but this is not something that’s happened quickly, I’ve had to deal with this in my head for quite some time. She’s astonishing, literally astonishing.’
Schofield said he was not thinking about future relationships and was taking ‘each day at a time’.
Amid the rumours of tensions with Holmes and Miss Langsford, the couple walked on set to embrace Schofield.