Phillip Schofield first met ITV colleague he later had an 'affair' with aged 15, according to reports
28.05.2023 - 16:07
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Phillip Schofield first met the younger ITV colleague whom he later had an affair with when he was aged 15, according to The Mail On Sunday.
The 61-year-old television presenter resigned from the broadcaster on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a young male colleague on This Morning.
Lawyers representing Schofield have confirmed they met when the boy was 15, but said the affair began after he started working at ITV, and the man's lawyers have also confirmed this.
In a statement on Friday, Phillip said the man was a teenager when they were introduced, and he was asked to help him get into television. But he underlined that it was a number of years later when he joined the show as an adult that their affair began.
The Mail On Sunday reported the pair first met when Phillip was giving a talk at a theatre school when the TV presenter was in his late 40s.
It said some years later the younger man joined the production team on This Morning when Phillip was in his early 50s and their relationship developed from a friendship to an affair.
The newspaper also said Schofield confirmed the affair after the young man revealed details about the relationship to his lawyers.
It comes after ITV said it investigated “rumours of a relationship” between Phillip and the ITV employee around three years ago but that both parties “categorically and repeatedly denied” it.
A spokesperson for ITV said on Saturday the broadcaster was “not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour” when it looked into the matter in 2020.
“Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to