Phillip Schofield Reflects on Career and Controversy

’s day begins by walking his chocolate cockapoo Alfie around a leafy enclave of west .

Those who live near his detached Victorian property in Chiswick are still star-struck when they see the former presenter. Even more so if Schofield stops to chat.

But these moments of friendly banter have been a long time in the making.

It was three years ago this week, in May 2023, that Phil sensationally stood down as the host of ’s This Morning.

His exit followed a dramatic fallout with his co-presenter and best friend – prompted by her belief that Phil wasn’t being honest about a relationship with a much younger colleague, which he claimed was just a friendship. When TV bosses took her side, Phil knew he had to leave. Just two weeks later, in a stunning mea culpa email sent to me on May 26, Phil admitted he had indeed had an affair with the runner – more than 30 years his junior – and lied about it.

‘I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning,’ he told me.

‘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.’

He described his affair as ‘unwise but not illegal’. After 21 years of hosting This Morning, one of the most recognisable – and highest-paid – faces in British showbusiness had been felled. With his reputation in tatters, Phil’s life changed overnight.

Despite representing him for decades, his talent agency YMU dumped him after 35 years and many of his friends scurried off as he became persona non grata.

While he had split from Stephanie, his wife of 27 years, after coming out as gay in 2020, the separation was now formalised in divorce.

But this week, the 64-year-old broke his silence about his life three years on from one of the biggest scandals to hit the world of television.

The former Dancing On Ice host insisted to me he was ‘content and happy’ with his new life out of the spotlight and he has now accepted he has no future in television – something, say those who know him, that would have been very difficult to get his head around.

‘Life is really calm and drama free now,’ Schofield told me in an email. ‘I decided a while ago that I just wanted a quiet life with family, friends I can trust and my dog.

‘Therefore I keep my head down as much as possible.

‘The past few years were, as you know, utterly brutal on so many levels and I came to terms with the fact that there was no way back.

‘I’ve got used to my new life and I’m content with that and happy.’

One may wonder if Phil’s comment that he only wants to be around friends he trusts is a dig at his former sidekick Holly.

Once the golden couple of daytime telly, for years they were inseparable off screen, too.

Holly, 45, was at Phil’s side, holding his hand, when he came out in February 2020 live on This Morning.

So close were the duo, and their families, that they bought neighbouring villas in a plush resort in Portugal, where they would soak up the sun together for weeks on end.

He was furious at her decision to distance herself from him, adamant that he was the kingmaker behind her glittering broadcasting career. I hear Schofield has been out to his holiday home recently, insistent that he will not sell it.

But keen to avoid Holly, he only goes during the school term time when it’s impossible for the mother of three to be there.

I’m also told that both prefer not to utter one another’s names either in private or public.

‘It runs that deep,’ says a source. ‘It got really, really toxic in the end, actually for a long time things hadn’t been that great between them but they had to hold it together for This Morning. Despite what happened, in front of the camera they were pros.’

Their families appear to have taken sides, too. Holly’s husband for almost 19 years, television production guru Dan Baldwin, is said to despise Schofield.

In turn, Schofield’s loyal daughters – Molly, 32, and Ruby, 30, once so close to Holly that they would have ‘girls’ nights’ in Portugal – think ‘very little’ of her today, say sources. ‘Three years is a long time in showbiz: once it was BBQs and bike rides, today there is no contact,’ says an associate of both.

‘Phil feels totally let down by Holly,’ adds my source. ‘He believes she threw him under the bus when he really needed her.

‘Holly was devastated that Phil lied to her over his affair. Friends of hers also believe that Phil wasn’t always as nice to her as the viewers would see.

‘There was a lot of jealousy on his part and he became very good at making Holly feel bad about her success. She’s free from that now, her life has changed so much, too.

‘When you look back at how close they were it is sad but it became an impossible situation and for Holly, it has been very freeing.’

Holly, meanwhile, also stepped back from the limelight after she too quit This Morning, five months after Phil in October 2023.

Her decision was largely in response to an extraordinary plot to kidnap, rape and murder her.

In June 2024, former security guard Gavin Plumb was jailed for life after he was found guilty on all three counts. In the months between learning of his evil plan and his conviction, Holly barely left her home and was terrified of making a return to live television.

Apart from hosting a series of Dancing On Ice and fronting the Netflix reality show Celebrity Bear Hunt with Bear Grylls, she too has been enjoying a long stint largely out of the limelight. Friends say she has embraced a quieter life away from public scrutiny. I’m told that she has been busy renovating her dream home after she and Baldwin decided they wanted to leave their stunning property in Barnes, south-west London, in the aftermath of Plumb’s plot.

Friends say that Phil finally feels he can finally be himself, often spending time in hangouts near Waterloo where he's built up a loyal group of friends.