OHMYGOSSIP — Phillip Schofield has sensationally resigned from ITV and been dropped by his agent after he admitted to lying about an affair with a “younger male” colleague on ‘This Morning’.
The 61-year-old – who has quit the network amid intense scrutiny over his relationship with co-host Holly Willoughby, 42, amid rumours the pair had fallen out – was still married at the time of his fling.
Phillip, who last week left ‘This Morning’, said in a long statement issued to the Daily Mail on Friday (26.05.23): “I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
“The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on ‘This Morning’.
“I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at ‘This Morning’.
“Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship.
“That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.”
Phillip was still married to his wife Stephanie Lowe at the time of the affair, who he married in 1993.
He came out as gay in 2020, but remained faithful to his long-term partner.
Phillip added in his statement: “When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody ‘forced’ me out.”
And he insisted about not taking legal action to try and stop the story of his affair previously emerging: “Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me.
“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.”
He went on: “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.”
Telling how he was also quitting his big upcoming ITV presenting job, he added: “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.
“I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it.”
Phillip added he was not naming the man with whom he had an affair, adding:
“To protect his privacy, I am not naming this individual and my deepest wish is that both he and his family can now move on with their lives free from further intrusion, and that this statement will enable them to do so.
“I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.”
Phillip has also been dropped by his agent YMU, which said in a statement: “Honesty and integrity are core values for YMU’s whole business, defining everything we do.
“Talent management is a relationship based entirely on trust. This week, we have learned important new information about our client Phillip Schofield.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Clare Balding delayed coming out as gay because of her career.
The 52-year-old presenter revealed her sexuality in 2022 and went on to marry wife Alice Arnold in 2015 but Clare admitted she waited so long to come out because she had fears for how it would affect her successful career.
She told Woman and Home magazine: “Being gay is who I am and it’s the way I’ve lived.
“The only reason it took me a while to come out publicly was not only because of the fear of the reaction, but that it might have a negative effect on my work. As it happens, that wasn’t the outcome, but at the time I didn’t know. It’s a lot easier now.
“Alice says to me, if you think that your relationship or reality should be kept a secret, then you are perpetuating a state of shame.”
Clare has enjoyed huge professional success and it was recently revealed that she will be replacing Sue Barker as the BBC’s lead Wimbledon host, starting from this summer.
She previously said in a statement: “It’s a huge honour to be given this responsibility but I am very aware that no one person can fill Sue’s shoes.
“This will always be a team effort and we’re lucky that the BBC line-up includes former professionals with huge insight as well as wonderful reporters and commentators.
“It’s my job to bring out the best in them and to help make our viewers feel they have a front-row seat on the greatest sporting stage.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Carol Vorderman has tipped Alison Hammond to replace Phillip Schofield on ‘This Morning’.
Phillip, 61, announced his departure from the ITV programme last week and Alison and co-host Dermot O’Leary have been filling in this week, while Phillip’s co-host Holly Willoughby took a break.
Now, Carol, 62 – who is a regular contributor to ‘This Morning’ – has ruled herself out of the running to step in and insisted Alison is the perfect co-host for Holly.
Speaking on BBC’s ‘Have I Got News for You’, Carol said: “Probably Holly and Alison, I would have thought.”
Host Steph McGovern asked Carol: “Is that where your money is?”, and Carol responded: “That’s where I’d put my money.”
Meanwhile, Phillip has sensationally resigned from ITV and been dropped by his agent after he admitted to lying about an affair with a “younger male” colleague on ‘This Morning’.
Phillip was still married at the time of his fling.
Phillip said in a long statement issued to the Daily Mail: “I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
“The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on ‘This Morning’.
“I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at ‘This Morning’.
“Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship.
“That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — ITV investigated claims of an affair between Phillip Schofield and a younger male colleague, but both denied it.
The network claims that after rumours emerged about the relationship in 2020, it launched an investigation but could find no evidence to support the speculation.
According to Sky News, an ITV spokesperson said on Saturday (27.05.23): “Further to our statement last night, ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated.
“Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency YMU.
“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on ‘This Morning’ and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
“Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.”
ITV’s statement comes after Phillip sensationally resigned from the channel and was dropped by his agent after he admitted to lying about the affair.
The 61-year-old – who quit ‘This Morning’ amid intense scrutiny over his alleged strained relationship with co-host Holly Willoughby, 42 – was still married at the time of his fling.
Phillip said in a long statement issued to the Daily Mail on Friday (26.05.23): “I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
“The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on ‘This Morning’.
“I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at ‘This Morning’.
“Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship.
“That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.”
Phillip was still married to his wife Stephanie Lowe at the time of the affair.
He came out as gay in 2020, but remained faithful to his long-term partner.
Phillip added in his statement: “When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody ‘forced’ me out.”
And he insisted about not taking legal action to try and stop the story of his affair previously emerging: “Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me.
“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.”
He went on: “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.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Holly Willoughby says that Phillip Schofield “directly” lied to her about his affair with a younger male colleague.
The ‘This Morning’ presenter has broken her silence after her former co-host sensationally resigned from ITV and was dropped by his agent on Friday (26.05.23) after he confessed to lying about the affair and claims that she was deceived by Schofield.
Holly, 42, wrote on Instagram: “It has taken time to process yesterday’s news.
“When reports of this friendship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not.
“It’s been very hurtful to now find out this was a lie.”
ITV confirmed on Saturday (27.05.23) that they had investigated claims of an affair between Schofield and his colleague but both had denied it after rumours about the relationship first emerged in 2020.
A spokesperson for the broadcaster: “Further to our statement last night, ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated.
“Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency YMU.
“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on ‘This Morning’ and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
“Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.”
Schofield, 61, quit ‘This Morning’ last week amid his alleged strained relationship with Willoughby and apologised for lying about the “unwise” affair in a statement to the Daily Mail newspaper.
He said: “I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
“The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on ‘This Morning’.
“I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at ‘This Morning’.
“Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship.
“That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Denise Welch is the “happiest” she has ever been.
The 65-year-old star – who tied the knot with Lincoln Townley, 50, in 2013 but has Matty, 34, and 22-year-old Louis with ex-husband Tim Healy – stopped drinking 11 years ago and explained that this decade has been the best one so far because of her “incredibly happy marriage” and because she has managed to achieve sobriety.
She told the Sunday Express S Magazine: “This decade has been one of the happiest in my life for two reasons. One is that I met my husband and I have an incredibly happy marriage that I love and I nurture. And two because I got sober. My life was a mess for many parts of a decade and more before.
“Not all the time, but I was dealing with an addiction which impacted my family and myself.”
The former’Waterloo Road’ actress has been open about her battle with depression over the years and penned the best-seller ‘The Unwelcome Visitor’ but admitted that she has “not had an episode” since 2019 even though she lost her dad Vin just two years ago, although she cannot say it will never return.
She said: “I’ve had low days, down days and, ‘Oh, is it coming?’ days. But I haven’t had an episode of depression. Even though I’ve been through my dad dying [in 2021], and we’ve all been through Covid and the stress and fear that was involved in all of that and my anger about it, I haven’t actually been clinically depressed. I’m not saying it won’t come back, but when you’ve lived with an illness like depression, which many people don’t understand, to wake up every day without depression is a good day.”
Meanwhile, the former ‘Coronation Street’ star first appeared on the lunchtime chat show ‘Loose Women’ from 2005 until 2013 before returning to the desk 2018 and now regularly appears alongside the likes of Janet Street-Porter, Ruth Langsford, and Jane Moore as she insisted that despite rumours, she has “never” fallen out with any of her fellow panelists.
She said: “It’s great for me – it fits into my lifestyle, I love the girls. I know that every single day I seem to be ‘in a feud’, but I’ve never had a fall out in 20 years with any of the women on that show. Yes, we’ve had arguments on the set – that’s part of the show.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Ellie Leach has reportedly split from her boyfriend.
The 22-year-old actress – who recently quit her long-running role as Faye Windass on ‘Coronation Street’ after more than a decade on the ITV1 soap opera – had been dating dancer Reagan Pettman for five years but is now taking some time to “reflect” and has reportedly called time on her relationship.
A source told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: “Ellie has the world at her feet after stepping away from Corrie and she has taken time to reflect on which direction her life is going in. Ellie and Reagan decided to call things a day and she is making the most of her single status.”
News of the breakup comes just days after Ellie’s final scenes as Faye Windass aired and on Thursday (24.05.23), Ellie took to social media to pay tribute to her character as she noted she will always be “eternally grateful” to have been on the show.
She wrote on Instagram: “Farewell Faye Windass and just like that, 12 years at @coronationstreet has come to end!! At 9 years old I could have never imagined how much this show would change my life. I have worked with some of the most incredible people and have learnt so much over the years that i will continue to hold onto for the rest of my life. Everyone says we’re like a family at corrie and we really are. From the cast, to the crew, make-up, costume, everyone infront of the camera and behind the cameras are what makes this show so special and i’m eternally grateful to have played a tiny part in that.
I am so unbelievably overwhelmed with the amount of kind comments that everyone has had about Faye over the years and how many well wishes i’ve had since announcing that i’ll be leaving and i just can’t thank you all enough for the support that everyone has given me.
Thankyou @coronationstreet for giving me the opportunity to play Faye Windass, she will always have a special place in my heart and I can’t wait to see what the future holds beyond those corrie cobbles (sic)”
Faye’s Weatherfield departure saw her break the heart of her fiance Craig Tinker (Colson Smith), as she fled the cobbles to be with her daughter Miley (Frankie-Jae Simmonds) and Miley’s father Jackson Hodge (Joseph Evans).

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Rachel Riley has no time for romance with her husband Pasha Kovalev.
The ‘Countdown’ star, 37, tied the knot with ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ professional Pasha, 43, in 2019, years after they competed together on the BBC One ballroom competition in 2013 and now has Maven, three, and 17-month-old Noa with him but explained that they have had to “put a pin” in the idea of date nights because of how busy they are as parents.
She told The Sunday Mirror newspaper: “All the romance and dates… we just kind of put a pin in it. We’re both quite patient and we know that once Noa is off the boob, we’ll get there again.”
Rachel went on to explain that she is instead “looking forward” to her milestone 40th birthday in 2026 because by that time the children will be a bit older and is thinking about all the “big parties” she and her schoolfriends will have.
She added: “I’m looking forward to celebrating one of my friends turning 40 at the end of the year. She’s the one stepping into the unknown but with all my school friends, in a few years it will be 40, 40, 40… I’m looking forward to the parties. We were all saving up ahead of our 30ths to go to Vegas. Everyone put it in their diaries – then everyone got pregnant, so we couldn’t go.
“But by 40, the kids are going to be a bit bigger. Maybe we can all get a house together, chuck the kids in the middle and leave the boys to look after them. But I’m not thinking about 40 in terms of, ‘Oh, that’s a big number’. I’m just thinking of how we’re going to party.

Source: VacationHunter.Online

OHMYGOSSIP — Shakin’ Stevens is reportedly set to appear on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The 75-year-old pop star – whose real name is Michael Barratt – was the UK’s biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s and today is perhaps best-known for his staple festive tune ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ but is now said to have been snapped up by bosses of the BBC One Latin and ballroom competition for when it returns to screens later this year.
A source told The Daily Star newspaper: “Bosses have spent years trying to get Shaky on the show and are hopeful he’ll finally say yes. Shaky is considered a national treasure and is certain to be popular. His hip shaking on ‘Top of the Pops’ is legendary.”
Little is known about the lineup for this year’s edition of the Saturday night favourite – which last year was won by ‘Countryfile’ presenter Hamza Yassin and professional partner Jowita Przystal –
but it has also been rumoured that disabled ‘Loose Women’ star Sophie Morgan could become the first wheelchair user to hit the ballroom.
A source told The Sun: “She is the ideal star to take on the role. Plus, she is very glamorous so will look amazing in the sequined costumes. She already has a huge fan base from Loose Women and is a huge advocate of using her platform to promote inclusivity. It’s still very early ­stages and the crew will officially start on pre-production in the coming months.”
What’s more, ‘Emmerdale’ actress Amy Nuttall has also been rumoured to have bagged a place in the lineup as a way of coping with her split from Andrew Bychan.
A source said: “Amy has been left broken by Andrew’s actions and feels humiliated by the whole ordeal. She wants to move on and not let the messy break-up define her.”
They further commented about the former soap star: “Strictly would be the perfect way for her to do that and hopefully restore the confidence she is lacking right now”

Source: VacationHunter.Online