PROUD OF MY PHIL
Mum supports Schofield after married star reveals he’s gay
TV star Phillip Schofield’s mum has revealed she “couldn’t be more proud” of him after he came out as gay.
Pensioner Pat watched as her This Morning presenter son opened up about his sexuality and admitted he had caused pain to wife Stephanie and his two girls.
Pat, 83, said: “To be so brave in front of so many people was inspiring because I know how hard it was for him to do.”
PHILLIP Schofield’s mum Pat said she “couldn’t be more proud,” of her son after he came out as gay, despite the star admitting he had caused immense pain to wife Stephanie Lowe and their girls.
Pat, 83, told how she was staggered when he visited her to relay the news.
She then watched as the This Morning presenter told the world yesterday in an emotional interview with co-host Holly Willoughby minutes after releasing a statement.
Pat said: “For him to be so brave in front of so many people was inspiring, because I know how hard it was for him to do.
“I love Steph and the girls more than anything in the world and I will always be there for them.
“When Phillip drove to Cornwall to tell me, the first thing I said was I don’t care.
“Yes it was a shock,but nothing as a family that we can’t support and applaud.”
Pat, who has another son, Tim, added: “I love my boys, they both fill me with so much pride.”
Phillip had earlier told Holly how he had grappled for “the past few years” with the realisation that he could no longer keep his true sexuality a secret.
Friends say it came as a devastating blow to his loyal wife of nearly 27 years, and mother of their grown-up daughters, Molly and Ruby.
One said: “Steph is being a rock for Phillip, as she always has been, but there’s no denying she is absolutely shattered by all this.
“She and the girls love him very much and will support him as much as they can, but the knowledge they have been living a lie for so long is terribly hurtful. “It’s humiliating to think that you’re married to someone who doesn’t love you in the way you love them.”
Phillip, 57, admitted coming clean had led to some “heartbreaking conversations”.
And he said he was haunted by guilt over how his family were feeling. I feel a little lighter but I’m also very, very aware, there’s no question it causes pain and upset,” he told Holly.
“I am, very conscious of the hurt, so my overriding emotion for my family is obviously going to be guilt because I do feel guilty that this can’t be anything other than a painful process.”
In his statement earlier, Phillip had spoken of “some very dark moments” as he came to terms with his “inner conflict” over his sexuality.
But he added: “Today, quite rightly, being gay is a reason to celebrate and be proud. Yes, I am feeling pain and confusion but that comes only from the hurt that I am causing to my family.”
Phillip was overcome with emotion as he explained to viewers: “We’ve been honest and open.
“Steph – I can’t write in any statement what I feel about that woman.
“She’s amazing, she’s incredible. There is no one in my life who would have supported me, as a wife, as the way she’s supported me. She’s astonishing, literally astonishing.”
Philip was born in Oldham, Lancashires, but grew up in Newquay,
Cornwall, with his French-polisher dad Brian and Pat, who worked in a care home. Phillip’s early life was a million miles from the showbiz spotlight.
But he went on to find fame as a BBC children’s presenter.
It was while working there that he met Stephanie who was a production assistant at the time.
The pair married in 1993 at Ackergill Tower in Scotland, before moving to Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. They welcomed first daughter Molly later the same year, with sister Ruby coming along three years later. Phillip has previously told
viewers how he proposed by putting an engagement ring in an advent calendar. “She opened it and I hopped out of bed starkers and got down on one knee,” he said.
His revelation to viewers about his sexuality came at 10am, as Eamonn Holmes and his wife Ruth Langsford fronted the show.
They passed over to Phillip, who was sitting alongside Holly, saying he had some “personal” news to share.
Holly then told the watching audience that she had “never been more proud of my friend” before reading his statement. Phillip claimed his decision to come out of the closet was unprompted by any external factors. He insisted: “This is absolutely my decision.
“It was something I knew that I had to do. I don’t know how this will be taken or what people will think.”
Holly asked how he felt now that his secret, which she had known about for some time, was public knowledge.
He said: “It’s funny because you have all been so supportive, and so loving and caring and my entire family have grabbed us and said, ‘It’s OK, we love you, we’re proud of you’ and every person I tell, it gets a little lighter. I have made my decision, which is essential for me and essential for my head and it’s principally the reason why I’ve done this.
“Of course I’m really very aware that Steph and the girls are at home watching this, and we’re all together.
“They’ve been supporting us to this moment, they all knew it was coming.”
Quizzed on why he had chosen this moment to come out, Phillip told her: “You know that this has been bothering me for a very long time.
“Everybody does these things at their own speed, when they feel the time is right and there’s no question it has, in recent times, consumed my head. I got to the stage where I thought, ‘We sit here every day and some amazingly brave, incredible person is here and I’m listening to their story thinking, ‘I have to be that person’.”
Asked if he wanted to start a new relationship, Phillip insisted: “No, I don’t think so. I’m not thinking there. I’m doing each day at a time now and this has always been a slow process.”
Phillip said that telling his daughters had been particularly tough but they had embraced him afterwards.
“It wasn’t easy, but they are so amazing in their love and support. I sat them down and I told them, and they jumped up and gave me a big hug and then hugged Steph and said, ‘It’s OK’. We’ll always be a family.”
Holly, 38, then gave her pal a cuddle telling him: “Whatever happens in the future, I’ll be sat by your side, forever.”
Ruth and Eamonn, who were rumoured to have been locked in a bitter feud with Phillip, then also came over to hug him on the sofa.
And Eamonn cheekily joked he now understood why Phillip and Holly’s partners had never minded the pair hanging out together in a hot tub.