All the ITV stars who have defended Phillip Schofield

Phillip Schofield became the centre of mass media attention in 2023 when he cut ties with ITV following the revelation of his ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a younger colleague.

The former Dancing On Ice presenter, 62, quit This Morning after rumours that he and Holly Willoughby were ‘barely speaking’ behind the scenes and that their relationship had cooled.

Days later, he sensationally resigned from all his ITV projects in their entirety after revealing he had relationship with his younger colleague while still with his wife Stephanie Lowe.

Schofield later gave a series of emotional interviews, in which he explained he ‘wouldn’t still be here’ if not for his two daughters, Molly and Ruby, and said he was scared to leave the house over fears of being spat on.

He’s now making his huge TV comeback in Channel 5’s reboot of Cast Away, where he’s vowed to ‘say whatever I want about whatever I want’.

The three-part series will show him opening up about his mental health struggles, taking a swipe at Holly, and making his thoughts about his former employer ITV well and truly known.

Schofield also hits out at the ‘utter betrayal’ by his TV colleagues and claimed he was ‘chucked under a bus’.

Not all of Schofield’s former colleagues have been supportive, with Eamonn Holmes launching a scathing attack on his former This Morning co-star, and Loose Women’s Nadia Sawalha saying she finds his new career move ‘cringe’.

But over the last year, several ITV stars have weighed in on the scandal and defended Schofield.

Jeremy Clarkson

Former Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? host Jeremy Clarkson previously defended Schofield and criticised the ‘witch hunt’ being led against him.

The former Top Gear star, 64, has since branded Schofield ‘brave’ and is ‘delighted’ to hear of his comeback.

He wrote in The Sun: ‘Phillip Schofield announced on morning television that he was gay, everyone rallied round and said how brave he’d been.

‘But when it turned out that he’d actually done gay stuff, he was sacked, cancelled, eviscerated and swept into the bucket of history marked “disgraced ageing TV stars”.

‘I was actually quite cross about this, so even though I don’t know him at all well, I called him up and we had a long chat.

‘It was like talking to a completely broken man because he could see no way back.

‘I was therefore delighted to hear this week that he’s managed it.’

This comes after Clarkson wrote for The Times: ‘Phil is no longer the genial host of some morning-time televisual cappuccino froth. According to the people’s court of social media, he’s like his brother, a nonce.

‘Actually, he’s worse than that: he’s a queue-jumping nonce. And we don’t want to see his disgusting face ever again.

‘I’ve never seen a witch-hunt like it, and what baffles me most of all is that, as things stand, no crime has been committed.

‘I don’t know him at all well and have no skin in the game, but it seems to me he is only guilty of being what he said he was: gay.’

Lorraine Kelly

Months after Schofield’s ITV exit, Lorraine described Schofield as a ‘delight’ to work with, adding he is ‘generous … not all men are, particularly male presenters, but he was.’

She admitted she was ‘heartbroken’ when the scandal and subsequent fallout happened, saying ‘it’s just a shame for the amazing career that he’s had, for it to end like that.’

Lorraine, 64, had earlier called Schofield a ‘good person’, saying in February this year: ‘‘If you’d told me at the start of [last] year that Holly [Willoughby] and Phil [Schofield] wouldn’t be [on This Morning], I wouldn’t have believed you.

‘But you know what? The show will continue. She’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. It will all be OK.’

She continued to Woman and Home Magazine: ‘They’re good people. I miss them. They’re smashing, they made me laugh a lot and every time I was on This Morning as a guest, they were a delight.’

Alison Hammond

This Morning host Alison Hammond may have admitted that what Schofield did was ‘wrong’, but she has defended her friend in the wake of his apology.

While appearing on the ITV breakfast show with Dermot O’Leary, she said: ‘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 mom always said “Use your Bible as your satnav in life Al, in the Bible it says ‘he without sin, casts the first stone,” I just don’t want to say anything bad because I’m in conflict.

‘I don’t want to say anything bad because obviously I’m in conflict. There’s so much a man can take, and I don’t want any death in this situation.’

Alison, Dermot and Rylan Clark have since shown their support for Schofield after he announced his comeback.

Gyles Brandreth

Regular This Morning guest Gyles Brandreth urged the public to ‘be kind’ to Schofield and compared what he is going through to the late Caroline Flack, who experienced immense backlash online as the Crown Prosecution Service pursued a domestic violence case against her which ultimately led to her death in 2020.

Appearing on the show, he said: ‘There have been many things that have been said and there’s going to be an external review that will go into that.

‘But watching this clip, I was reminded of a great saying by a writer, Henry James, who said, “In life there are three rules – the first rule is be kind, the second rule is be kind, the third rule is be kind”.’

Piers Morgan

Former Good Morning Britain host and controversial GB News presenter Piers Morgan lashed out at the ‘ruthless backstabbing in the world of daytime television’, in the wake of Schofield leaving ITV.

‘One minute Schofield was the undisputed king of morning TV and fast heading to bona fide national treasure status – the next he’s a dethroned, shamed, vilified, national disgrace and social media laughing stock,’ he continued.

Following Schofield’s emotional BBC interview about the affair, Morgan tweeted: ‘Unless Phillip Schofield’s ex-lover contradicts his version of events to The Sun [and the] BBC, then it’s time to stop this relentless persecution of a guy who’s lost everything and looks right on the edge to me.

‘He doesn’t seem to have committed any crime, and he’s not a [government] minister.’

Richard Bacon

Former Good Morning Britain star Richard Bacon also defended Schofield, simply telling people to ‘stop piling in on this human being’ in a post on X.

Bacon himself has also spoken out about feeling like his career was over after being sacked from hosting Blue Peter after his cocaine scandal.

After this, he went on to work on Good Morning Britain and The Big Breakfast.

Sarah Ferguson

Away from ITV, Sarah Ferguson defended Schofield, saying the scandal was like a ‘huge game of Chinese whispers’, branding it ‘the court of public opinion.’

‘I don’t believe that anybody has that right to judge and exterminate a person’s own beliefs,’ she continued.

Sarah, who regularly appears on Good Morning Britain, then urged social media users to reserve their judgment, adding: ‘We all have failings.’

She continued: ‘Could everyone please take a beat or make a cup of tea before you judge another human being without knowing all the facts? 

‘We don’t know the facts. We certainly don’t know what people get up to.’

The former wife of Prince Andrew went on to agree with Clarkson’s assessment that Schofield had been a victim of a ‘witch hunt’ and homophobia.

Craig Revel Horwood

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood insisted Schofield should have been ‘left alone’, when news of the scandal broke last year.

‘I think Phillip Schofield is entitled to a private life,’ he said. 

‘Yes, he lied to his colleagues, which is wrong, but he wanted to protect himself and his former lover.

‘It pales in comparison to a war, where innocent people are dying. It’s not like he’s murdered anyone.’

The Craig and Bruno’s Great British Roadtrip star added: ‘How many CEOs have extra-marital affairs with secretaries? A lot. It doesn’t make sense to me that it became quite as huge as it did. Leave him alone now, I say.’

Other stars who have defended Schofield have also included Rupert Everett and Graham Norton.

A version of this article was originally published on February 2, 2024.