Holly Willoughby returns to This Morning after Phillip Schofield’s exit

A tearful Holly Willoughby returned to This Morning today and admitted she felt ‘shaken, troubled’ and ‘let down’ as she accused Phillip Schofield of lying to her and ITV colleagues over his affair with a young producer.

The star, 42, hugged co-host Josie Gibson and held her hand as she declared that it ‘feels very strange indeed’ to be on the show without Schofield in a statement she had written herself.

But in a brutal put down for Phil, 61, she said that the This Morning team ‘gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth’. She also paid tribute to his young lover, who has left ITV and was last seen working in a pub, saying she was ‘worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on’.

But she also confirmed that she wanted to stay on the show amid rumours her role could be under threat after the Schofield scandal threatened the future of This Morning itself.

‘I hope that as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that this show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other. And from my heart, can I just say thank you for all of your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning’, she said.

‘Myself, Josie, Dermot (O’Leary), Alison (Hammond), Craig (Doyle), and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every single day to bring you that, this show that we love’. She then had a hug with Josie.

Holly was said to be nervous ahead of the show and she opened it with a statement she wrote herself. 

Wearing white, Ms Willoughby clutched Josie’s hand and said: ‘Josie, thank you for being here. Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you OK? I hope so. It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil. And I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have.

‘Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions.

‘You, me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. 

‘That is a lot to process. And it’s equally hard to see the toll that it’s taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone’.

Willoughby was back on the sofa today for the first time since Schofield’s departure on May 26 as she appeared emotional alongside co-presenter Ms Gibson.

Minutes earlier, she had appeared in a videolink on Lorraine before the show to talk about what was coming up, as controversy in the wake of Schofield’s exit continued.

She was returning after a two-week break following her former co-host’s departure and his subsequent revelation of an affair with a younger ITV male employee.

Willoughby and This Morning editor Martin Frizell were earlier photographed arriving separately at Television Centre in White City ahead of the anticipated episode.

Her return to presenting duties along with Gibson was confirmed at the end of Friday’s show, which was hosted by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary.

Willoughby – who is said to be ‘nervous’ – is expected to address the Schofield controversy on the show, telling viewers how difficult it has been behind the scenes.

It comes after Schofield said he ‘didn’t tell anybody’ about his affair with his former This Morning colleague, confirming in a tell-all interview with BBC’s Amol Rajan that Willoughby ‘did not know’.

Similarly, in his interview with the Sun, the 61-year-old presenter apologised to Willoughby for lying to her about his relationship, saying: ‘I’ve lost my best friend.’

He added: ‘I let her (Holly) down. I let that entire show down. I let the viewers down.

‘Holly did not know (about the affair) and she was one of the first texts that I sent, to say: ‘I am so, so sorry that I lied to you’.

‘She didn’t reply and I understand why she didn’t reply as well. So, yeah, if anyone is in any way linking Holly to this, that is -absolutely, wholly untrue.’

The duo, who had presented the show together since 2009 and also co-hosted Dancing On Ice before Schofield resigned from ITV, had been open about their close friendship over the years.

Willoughby’s return comes as the ITV show has been plagued by allegations of ‘toxicity’, including from former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes who has alleged there was a ‘total cover-up’ over the Schofield affair.

The show’s former resident doctor, Dr Ranj Singh, also hit out at a ‘toxic’ culture, saying he raised concerns about ‘bullying and discrimination’ two years ago when he worked there and afterwards felt like he was ‘managed out’ for whistleblowing.

In a letter from ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall to Parliament on Wednesday, she said an external review conducted following a complaint made by Dr Ranj found ‘no evidence of bullying or discrimination’.

Meanwhile, former This Morning head of news Emily Maddick, who worked on the show from September to December 2019, claimed she quit the programme due to ‘bullying, sexism and a toxic culture of fear and intimidation’.

On Saturday, This Morning editor Frizell told a Sky News reporter to ‘read between the lines’ amid claims of toxicity, adding: ‘I think there’s some scores being settled.’

Dame Carolyn has been called to a parliamentary committee on June 14 to answer questions about the broadcaster’s approach to safeguarding and complaint handling following Schofield’s exit.

Last Wednesday, she confirmed the broadcaster had instructed barrister Jane Mulcahy KC of Blackstone Chambers to carry out an external review of the facts.

friends of Phillip Schofield, who has spent time with his mother Pat in Cornwall, say he wouldn’t tune in to watch her return to the This Morning sofa today as it would be too ‘triggering’ for him, especially the opening credits he featured in for more than two decades. Mr Schofield has said he has been left suicidal over his fall from grace and revealed that Holly had not replied to his text where he asked for her forgiveness. 

His former boss Martin Frizell, the This Morning editor, told Sky News that he had not presided over a toxic culture. ‘I think you have got to read between the lines, I think some scores are being settled,’ he said.

While  Lorraine Heggessey, a former BBC1 controller, said: They’re all under the spotlight. They’ve lost a friend or colleague, and the whole ethos of the programme is under pressure. It’s very tricky.’

Allies of 61-year-old Schofield, who left after revelations he had lied about an affair with male colleague, say even watching the opening credits could prove too distressing for him as he comes to terms with leaving the show he had fronted since 2002.

The popular show has a loyal following, and despite being out of work, friends of Schofield say he won’t be watching today.

A friend of the father-of-two told The Sun: ‘He physically could not watch – he’s not there yet.

‘Even listening to the opening credits would be hugely triggering.

‘His family is being incredibly careful not to have the TV on when he’s in the room to ensure he doesn’t see anything.

‘Of course he is aware Holly is back on air today and he absolutely wanted her to shine, and smash it.

‘But he physically could not watch – he is not there yet.’

Even though she is not speaking to him anymore following the fallout of the scandal, Schofield does support Holly and wants her to ‘shine and smash it’, insiders told The Sun.

Schofield has been supported by his family since his sacking, with photos emerging showing the moment he embraced his elderly mother after he was sacked from the show.

He was seen hugging his mother Pat, 87, on a bench overlooking the sea in Newquay, Cornwall, last month. 

Schofield and his mother had driven from her home to their favourite fish and chip shop before heading out to Pentire Headland where they looked out over the sea.

The presenter, who had hosted This Morning since 2002, had been in the seaside town to support his mother as his brother, Timothy, was being sentenced for sex offences against a teenage boy.

The same day her youngest son was jailed for 12 years, Pat was told by her eldest child that he was losing his job. 

While getting fish and chips with his mother, Phillip received a phone call from his manager telling him bosses at the channel wanted him to leave the show.

In an interview with the Sun last week, he said: ‘I had to go down to Cornwall to be with her for the sentencing.

‘And our family thing was always to buy fish and chips and go and sit on the headland.

‘I picked my mum up and she went in to get the fish and chips — and while she was getting them, my phone rang.

‘It was my then manager saying, ‘Mate, I am so sorry, it has become too loud for ITV. You will have to step down from This Morning’.

‘And she arrived in the car. She said to me before I arrived, ‘You’re not coming down with any bad news are you?’.

‘She sat in the car and she was all happy to see me, and then she said, ‘Oh, your face has changed’.

I said, ‘Let’s go on to the headland’. And I had to tell her.’

The furore which has surrounded Schofield has threatened to engulf This Morning, with ITV getting set to introduce ‘heavy vetting’ of public callers to protect presenters from outbursts over the scandal.

Production staff will take on the important role of screening callers, as audience interaction segments are also to be paused to avoid any abuse being sent towards presenters.

It comes as Holly prepares an ‘honest and personal statement’ to address the departure of her former co-star, who recently admitted he had lied about an affair with a younger male colleague, as she returns to the programme on today.

Her return to the sofa, accompanied by former guest host Josie Gibson, will mark a permanent change to the line-up as viewers face an altered show, with fewer opportunities to feel included by live presenters.

It was also reported today that Holly is being courted by BBC bosses as they look to lure her away from ITV.

And on the eve of her on-screen return she posted a cryptic message urging others to ‘maintain a positive perspective’.

Uploading a snap  of the ‘Strawberry Moon’ on her wellness page Wylde Moon page, the full post read: ‘This Full ‘Strawberry’ Moon in Sagittarius brings with it a zest for life.

‘The guiding influence of this fire sign combined with Jupiter encourages you to maintain a positive perspective and to tune into your finest qualities.

‘Inspire. Renew. Believe.’ 

In an interview last week Phillip said he believed his career was ‘over’ and he had ‘lost everything’ after admitting he had lied about his relationship with a man on the show.

‘I have to talk about television in the past tense, which breaks my heart,’ he told the BBC. ‘What am I going to do with my days? I see nothing ahead of me but blackness, sadness regret, remorse and guilt. I did something very wrong, and then I lied about it consistently.’

He said the criticism he’s faced since admitting the affair has had a ‘catastrophic effect’, adding: ‘Do you want me to die? Because that’s where I am. I have lost everything.’

In the interviews, Schofield, who was also dropped by his talent agency YMU after his admission to the Mail about the ‘unwise but not illegal relationship’, said he was ‘utterly broken and ashamed’.

Schofield told the BBC that the young man, who worked as a runner for a short period on This Morning, was 20 when he first had any kind of sexual contact with him.

He told The Sun they had become friends but in 2017 – three years before he came out as gay and separated from wife Stephanie Lowe after 27 years – ‘something happened that just changed it’.

There was ‘a consensual moment’ in Schofield’s dressing room after a show and ‘it was mutual’.

He said he did not have a ‘love affair’ with the man and that ‘it was not a relationship, we were not boyfriends, we were mates’.

He said ‘it wasn’t feelings’ he was getting but it was ‘more like mates: excitement’. He added: ‘I was really struggling with my sexuality at that time in the build up to what happened.’ The pair only had ‘five or six romantic encounters’ over a period of around six months.

He said they met at Schofield’s apartment in south-east London only once after he phoned the young man to invite him over for a beer.

He also denied using ITV money to pay for taxis for the man, saying: ‘I don’t have an ITV account.’

Schofield said he had ‘no excuse’ for what happened, ‘no one did anything wrong apart from me’ and ‘I was unprofessional, one time, in a 41-year career’.

He added that he and the young man ‘stupidly’ thought that ‘nobody knew’ about them.

ITV said the man was 19 when he did work experience at This Morning in 2015, and 20 years old when he applied and secured a job as a runner on the show.

He later moved to Loose Women in 2019 and left ITV in 2021.

Schofield apologised to Holly Willoughby, who presented This Morning with him for 14 years, for lying about his secret relationship and for tainting her public image.

‘I’ve lost my best friend. I let her down. I let that entire show down. I let the viewers down,’ he told The Sun. ‘Holly did not know [about the affair]. And she was one of the first texts that I sent to say, ‘I am so, so sorry that I lied to you.’

‘She didn’t reply and I understand why she didn’t reply. So if anyone is in any way linking Holly to this, that is absolutely, wholly untrue.’

He told the newspaper the pair have broken all contact, and said it was his paedophile brother’s imprisonment that made her distance herself from the friendship. 

Describing Ms Willoughby, 42, as his ‘TV sister’, Schofield said he understood why she would think, ‘I have to step back from this’.

He told the BBC, when asked who on the This Morning team knew about his affair: ‘To my knowledge, I mean, somebody has to know something for there to be a rumour later on. I didn’t believe that anybody knew.’

The TV presenter has praised his daughters Molly, 29, and Ruby, 27, for ‘guarding him’ as he struggles to cope with the fall-out from the affair. 

He told the BBC: ‘Last week if my daughters hadn’t been there then I wouldn’t be here. And they’ve guarded me and won’t let me out of their sight, it’s like a weird numbness.

‘I know that’s a selfish point of view. But you come to a point where you just think, how much are you supposed to take?’

He also said telling his wife Ms Lowe about his affair ‘was the most difficult conversation I’ve ever had to have with her’.

He added: ‘She is extremely disappointed because I lied to her as well.’