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Holly Willoughby did not know about affair – Phillip Schofield

The 61-year-old presenter apologised to Willoughby for lying to her about his relationship.

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Phillip Schofield has said he “didn’t tell anybody” about his affair with his former This Morning colleague and his ex co-host Holly Willoughby “did not know”.

The duo, who presented the show together since 2009 and also co-hosted ITV’s Dancing On Ice before Schofield resigned from ITV, had been open about their close friendship over the years including going on holiday together.

Schofield has been speaking about the affair he had with a younger male colleague for the first time since he left the broadcaster last week.

Asked by the BBC’s Amol Rajan whether he told Willoughby, he said: “No, oh god, no, that’s a bigger question because our make-up room was like a sanctuary so you tell everything in that room.

“Holly knows everything about me, I know everything about Holly…. Holly did not know. Nobody knew. I didn’t tell anybody.”

Asked about who on his team knew about the relationship, the presenter said: “Nobody to my knowledge. I mean somebody has to know something for there to be a rumour later on. I didn’t believe that anybody knew.”

The 61-year-old presenter apologised to Willoughby for lying to her about his relationship when he spoke to The Sun.

He said: “I’ve lost my best friend. I let her (Holly) down. I let that entire show down. I let the viewers down.

“Holly did not know (about the affair) and she was one of the first texts that I sent, to say: ‘I am so, so sorry that I lied to you’.

“She didn’t reply and I understand why she didn’t reply, as well. So yeah. If anyone is in any way linking Holly to this; that is ­absolutely, wholly untrue.”

He later added to the BBC, when asked, “Who knew on the team?” that “To my knowledge, I mean, somebody has to know something for there to be a rumour later on. I didn’t believe that anybody knew.”

Schofield said his friendship with his former co-presenter did not break down following their visit to the late Queen’s lying-in-state, but after his brother, Timothy, was jailed for 12 years for sexually abusing a boy.

National Television Awards 2021 – London
Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby after winning the daytime award for This Morning at the National Television Awards in 2021 (Ian West/PA)

He told The Sun: “So we are forever now (associated)… it doesn’t matter now because I’m not going to go out any more but, forever now, you go to the butcher’s and someone says, ‘Oh do you want to (skip ahead)?’ ‘No, no, I’ll stand here.’ I’m serious.

“I don’t ever throw anyone under the bus, but I have a very good instinct for these things and I knew it was a bad thing to do.”

He added: “We were texting each other backwards and forwards afterwards. I said to Holly, ‘I knew I should have gone with my gut,’ and she said, ‘I know’.

“But we were shell-shocked, the both of us, completely shell-shocked by the reaction.

“What are the two things you don’t screw up? The Queen and a queue.”

ITV’s chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall had said last year that the pair had been “misrepresented” over the issue and stressed they had been attending as members of the media to film a segment for This Morning.

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