Phillip Schofield has confessed that he is still ‘friends’ with the runner with whom he had an affair on This Morning.
Schofield, 61, announced his departure from the daytime show after more than 20 years after allegations circulated that he and Willoughby, 42, were ‘barely communicating’ behind the scenes and that their relationship had deteriorated.
Days later, he resigned from all of his ITV duties, including presenting the British Soap Awards, after disclosing on This Morning that he had a ‘unwise but not criminal’ affair with a younger colleague while still married to Stephanie Lowe.
The unnamed young runner was 15 when they met, and Schofield claims the romance began after he turned 18.
The former Dancing On Ice host went on a one-off BBC interview, when Amol Rajan questioned her about the connection and whether they are still in contact.
Speaking about the runner, Schofield said: ‘We’ve stayed mates. We’re still mates. We still stay friendly.’
Rajan also questioned him when he last spoke with the young man, to which Schofield said that it was recently when he engaged a lawyer for him.
‘He needed independent support,’ Schofield continued. ‘So that was the last time.’
Rajan asked: ‘So that was a few weeks ago?’
Schofield replied: ‘Yeah, a couple of weeks.’
The former The Cube host characterised his ex-lover as a ‘innocent person’ who ‘didn’t do anything wrong, is fragile, and probably feels the same way I do.’
According to the Daily Mail, sources believe the runner received a cash settlement from the broadcaster, which ITV has apparently declined to comment on or deny on several occasions.
According to an insider, someone senior at ITV must have known about the payment because it required ‘someone of some seniority’ to sign off on it.
However, some reports claim that it was a redundancy payment rather than a relationship-related payment.
According to a friend of the young man, he no longer works in television and is now pushing pints at a bar.
‘He should be having a good career in television now, but because of this he’s not,’ they added.
Phillip Schofield: The Interview is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Source My Celebrity Life.
