Phillip Schofield breaks his silence

Phillip Schofield breaks his silence: Axed This Morning star says he’s ‘broken and ashamed’ but not a groomer in first interview since he admitted affair

• Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV after admitting to ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair 

Phillip Schofield broke his silence tonight, saying he’s ‘broken and ashamed’ but not a groomer in his first interview since admitting an affair.

Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV last week and was dropped by his agency YMU after admitting to an ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair with a younger male colleague. 

The former This Morning star said the affair ‘never came across’ as an abuse of power because he and his lover were ‘mates’.

Schofield told The Sun: ‘I was unprofessional, one time, in a 41-year career. There is no excuse.

‘No one did anything wrong apart from me.’  

Phillip Schofield broke his silence tonight, saying he’s ‘broken and ashamed’ but not a groomer in his first interview since admitting an affair

Phillip Schofield is seen today in London for the first time since quitting ITV and This Morning 

During the interview, Schofield (pictured on This Morning with Holly Willoughby) was seen taking drags from a light blue vape as he answered questions about whether he had groomed his lover.

Pictured: Philip Schofield and his wife Stephanie Lowe are seen with their daughters Ruby and Molly at the premiere of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018

In his first interview since leaving the broadcaster and This Morning, the 61-year-old presenter said: ‘I did not, I did not [groom him].

‘There are accusations of all sorts of things. It never came across that way because we’d become mates. I don’t know about that.

‘But of course I understand that there will be a massive judgment, but bearing in mind, I have never exercised that anywhere else.’

During the interview, Schofield was seen taking drags from a light blue vape as he answered questions about whether he had groomed his lover. 

Schofield added his ‘greatest apology’ over the fallout from the affair was to his former lover.

He said: ‘It has brought the greatest misery into his totally innocent life, his totally innocent family, his totally innocent friends. It has brought the greatest grief to them.’

He added: ‘I am deeply sorry and I apologise to him because I should have known better. I should have acted the way I have always acted. I should not have done it.

Earlier today Schofield was sat in the backseat of the car next to a woman believed to be his daughter Ruby

‘I’m sorry. And I will forever be sorry. I will die sorry. I am so deeply mortified.’

Phillip Schofield said he thought it ‘looked shocking’ when an old photograph, featuring both him and the man who would later become his lover, emerged online.

Schofield had reportedly first met the man when he was 15 years old, but said the affair did not begin until he was much older and had begun working at ITV.

Schofield told The Sun: ‘At the time I did not think about it possibly ruining my career. I really probably only thought about it when I saw the rumour mill, and saw it growing.

‘Then I saw the link with the drama school photo all those years before, and thought, ‘This looks shocking’.

‘But I didn’t lie to protect my career, he didn’t want his name in public. He wanted his own life.’

This is a breaking news story. More to follow. 

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