who departed last May after his relationship was revealed with a 17-year-old showrunner, has said he would have got a “pat on the back” it wasn’t a homosexual relationship.
Tonight he appears on show Cast Away where he opens up on his experience of becoming “disgraced” in TV circles.
But despite his claims, ITV insiders have said it is “totally untrue” to suggest he would have been treated differently because it was a gay romance.
In his much-criticised television comeback on Channel 5 programme Cast Away, Schofield refers to himself as the “shamed, disgraced Philip Schofield, who had an affair”.
The 62-year-old said: “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.
Phillip Schofield is appearing on Channel 5 tonight (Image: CHANNEL 5)
“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.
“I don’t know what price you’re supposed to pay and whether the price you’re paying is necessarily proportionate,” he added.
Hitting back, a source at the channel told MailOnline: “It’s a stupid thing for Phil to say, and it is just not true. Phil lied to his colleagues, his bosses and his friends about it, it wouldn’t have mattered if it was a woman or a man.”
Schofield– who stepped down from presenting the daytime TV programme last May – said the “consensual on-off relationship” was “unwise, but not illegal”.
Phillip Schofield is still married to his wife of 30 years Stephanie Lowe. (Image: GETTY)
The presenter previously said he was “very sorry” for the affair, which happened while he was married to his wife of 30 years, Stephanie Lowe.
The TV presenter admitted he lied about the relationship to ITV, his colleagues, friends and his agents, YMU, who have since parted ways with Schofield.
He told the Daily Mail: “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.
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“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.
“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.”
An ITV spokesperson said: “We are deeply disappointed by the admissions of deceit made tonight by .
“The relationships we have with those we work with are based on trust. Phillip made assurances to us which he now acknowledges were untrue and we feel badly let down.
“We accept his resignation from ITV and therefore can confirm that he will not be appearing on ITV as had previously been stated.”