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He fell to his knees in my dressing room crying ‘I’m gay’, Eamonn says

By Consultant Editor Showbusiness

EAMONN Holmes last night revealed how Phillip Schofield wept in his dressing room before coming out live on This Morning.

Schofield was lauded at the time of his 2020 revelation, when he told the nation: ‘With the strength and support of my wife and my daughters, I have been coming to terms with the fact that I am gay’.

At the time, although he would not admit it until last week, Schofield had had a relationship with a much younger male colleague, who, just weeks before, had declared his love for the presenter at the National Television Awards.

There has been speculation that one of the reasons that Schofield came out was the fear that the affair was about to be exposed. Holmes, who hosted the Friday This Morning episode with wife Ruth Langsford until 2021, last night told how he was on his way to the studio when he got a call from bosses telling him that Schofield and Holly Willoughby would be on the programme too, despite it being their day off.

The pair had ‘something to say’, he was told. Holmes told GB News’ Dan Wootton Tonight: ‘I’m thinking oh, good. Hopefully he’s going, you know, hurrah! But it wasn’t.

‘He comes into our dressing room, and he falls down on his knees, the acting is amazing. And he falls down on his knees crying.

‘And I said to him, “What’s the matter? What’s the matter?” He said “I’m gay.” I walked over and I said, “Is that all?”’ Holmes then went on to say that he felt ‘used’ by the event. He also claimed it was kept a secret from him and Ms Langsford while others had known for some time. He added: ‘I’m sure they’ve rehearsed it for days as to what they were going to say and do and who was going to hug and Holly was very specific about where she sat, where Phillip sat, where Ruth sat, where I sat, it was all choreographed. ‘Then we notice The Sun newspaper’s here. So the story was sold to The Sun. The director of programmes, Kevin Lygo, was there from ITV, the director of daytime, Emma Gormley, was there. Martin Frizzell was there, the editor, the agents, were there for all of this. We began to feel this is not our show at all. ‘So this had been planned for some time... because he has obviously done a deal with the newspaper to give a version of what the newspaper knew.’ Two days later, Schofield did a further interview with The Sun, where his wife Stephanie Lowe also told her story. ITV and Schofield were approached for comment last night.

This Morning Meltdown

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2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

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