Piers Morgan has shared his response following Phillip Schofield’s confession to an affair with a This Morning showrunner.
The 61-year-old daytime host rocked the nation on Friday (May 26) when he released a statement, confirming years of speculation that he had a relationship with a young colleague at the ITV show.
Phil said the relationship was ‘unwise but not illegal’, as it occurred when he was married to his wife of 30 years, also before he came out as gay.
The TV star did not name the individual, but did announce that he is resigning from ITV with ‘immediate effect’.
While fellow broadcaster Piers, 58, didn’t directly share his feelings on the whole debacle, he did sum up his reaction with one word.
Reposting a tweet, he wrote: ‘Blimey….’, followed by a wide-eye emoji.
The former Good Morning Britain host went on to Retweet a tweet that read: ‘A lot more questions about who knew what when at ITV to be answered after this…’
Piers’ tweets come Phil had confided in him after he initially stepped back from This Morning amid rumours of a fallout with co-presenter Holly Willoughby, 42.
The TalkTV broadcaster expressed how much ‘empathy’ he felt towards Phil regarding his situation and how his exit unfolded after more than two decades on the weekday show.
‘I don’t know the full story behind Phillip Schofield’s downfall, but where I feel personal empathy with him is over the manner of his sacking,’ he wrote for The Sun.
‘For ITV to not even give him the chance to say a proper goodbye to his large, loyal audience after 21 years struck me as needlessly churlish, and I know he’s utterly heartbroken about it because he told me himself.’
Meanwhile, Phil’s latest confession has also resulted in him being dropped by his talent agency after 35 years with them.
Issuing a full statement to the Daily Mail today, the former Dancing On Ice host began: ‘I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
‘Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
‘When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody “forced” me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me.’
He went on to say: ‘In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship. But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
‘I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.’
Phil then confirmed he had ‘stepped down’ from hosting the British Soap Awards next week.
He also said he would not be naming the young man who the affair was with.
But, he did express his ‘immense gratitude’ for ITV and ‘all the amazing opportunities they have given me’ over the years.
He concluded by sharing his ‘deepest wish’ is that both the young showrunner and his family can now ‘move on with their lives’ and ‘free from further intrusion’.
Phil ended with: ‘I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.’
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