Alison Hammond broke down in tears as This Morning finally addressed Phillip Schofield’s admission about having affair with a younger former colleague on the ITV show.
On Thursday night, The Sun published an interview with the former Dancing On Ice presenter, in which he said he was “ashamed” of his actions, but insisted he did not groom the man in question.
While This Morning previously paid tribute to Phillip following his exit from the show – which preceded his confession about the affair – and later responded on-air to accusations of toxicity behind the scenes, it had not mentioned the scandal surrounding the former host.
However, after the BBC also aired its own interview with Phillip, Alison and co-host Dermot O’Leary tackled the headlines emerging from it in a news review segment during Friday’s live show.
Reacting to a clip in which Phillip discussed his suicidal feelings in the wake of the scandal, Alison began sobbing.
“I’m finding it really painful,” she said. “I loved Phillip Schofield, it’s weird because I still love Phillip Schofield.
“However, what he’s done is wrong. He’s admitted it, he’s said sorry. As a family, we’re all really struggling to process everything, I never know what to say.
“I remember what my mom said, my mum always said ‘use your bible as your sat-nav in life Al. In the bible, it says ‘he without sin, casts the first stone’. I don’t want to say anything bad, because obviously I’m in conflict.”
Dermot agreed it was “very difficult to cover this story” because Phillip had previously “a friend and a colleague”.
In his interview with The Sun, Phillip said he was “deeply sorry” for his actions and apologised to his former colleague.
He had reportedly first met the man when he was 15 years old, but said the affair did not begin until he was 20 and had begun working at ITV.
The 61-year-old presenter said: “I did not, I did not [groom him].
“There are accusations of all sorts of things. It never came across that way because we’d become mates. I don’t know about that.
“But of course I understand that there will be a massive judgment, but bearing in mind, I have never exercised that anywhere else.”
ITV previously said in a statement: “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 [...] 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 has since instructed a barrister to carry out an external review of the facts following Phillip’s This Morning exit and subsequent press statements, the broadcaster’s chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said.
HuffPost UK has contacted ITV for additional comment following Phillip’s latest interviews.
Phillip Schofield: The Interview is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer, while This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1.