Phillip Schofield believes the response to his affair would have been different if it happened with a woman (Image: Channel 5)
has expressed his discontent with the negative portrayal of his departure from and the language used to describe his affair.
In May 2023, the 62-year-old stepped down from after he admitted to having an affair with a younger male colleague which he concealed from both ITV and his representatives. The presenter distinctly shares his displeasure with the media’s coverage during his upcoming show on , Cast Away.
In his new series, Phillip remarks: “Shamed, disgraced who had an affair. But strangely, I think another TV presenter or two might have done exactly the same thing.”
“Difference is, heterosexual. It’s not an unusual thing in the gay world for there to be a difference in age groups. That’s not that unusual in the straight world, but if that had been the case with me and it had been a woman. Pat on the back. Well done mate.”
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Phillip opens up about coming out as gay later in life (Image: PA)
Phillip, who made headlines when he came out as gay in February 2020, opens up on Cast Away about how coming out later in life hasn’t been entirely positive for him.
He states in the first episode: “I’m very proud of what I did, and I know that coming out for many people is liberating….but for me doing it later in life, at the moment it’s just given me more anguish than joy because I am fully aware of the damage that is leaves.”
Phillip made the decision to leave his role at ITV when his affair was exposed, saying in a statement: “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.
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Phillip’s appearance in Cast Away is his first time on TV in 16 months (Image: Channel 5)
“I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me.”
The former ITV star added: “I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it.”
He has not appeared on TV since then, with many seeing Cast Away as an opportunity for him to reinvent himself and his career if it is well received.
The veteran presenter is believed to have turned down a number of huge TV deals before signing up to the survival show, which he believes is the perfect place to tell his story in an “unedited and honest” way.