Phillip Schofield says 'hardest day of life' came three years before ITV downfall

The disgraced ITV presenter, who quit the channel under a cloud following admitting an affair with a younger male colleague, has opened up on new Channel 5 documentary Cast Away.

Phillip Schofield has explained how coming out as gay left him in "anguish" rather than joy. The disgraced ITV presenter, who quit the channel under a cloud following admitting an affair with a younger male colleague, has opened up on new Channel 5 documentary Cast Away.

The host opened up about his sexuality during an incredibly moving interview on This Morning in 2020. Phillip said: “For me, doing it later in life, at the moment, it’s just given me more anguish than joy. Because I’m fully aware of the damage that it leaves.

"I still have the love of my family. Never wavered.” Wife Stephanie said: “What people don’t realise is that they batter you, but there are other people affected. There’s no question, by doing this, you’re popping your head back up above the parapet for the very few horrid people that there are out there.”

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And daughter Molly told of how “proud” she is of her “amazing” father. She says: “Weirdly, everything that’s happened recently has made us closer. We’ve seen him in his lowest times. But I’ve been so proud of him. So proud of him.

“As a daughter, to see the love that people have for him. But when it’s taken away, it’s heartbreaking. On a desert island, you can’t fake it. This is the real you. So you can’t hide anything. And I really hope that people see him how we see him. Because he is just amazing.”

She says: “The DIY I’m really nervous about, because he can’t. He can’t do it. He can do a lot of things, but he can’t do DIY.” She says: “When my dad came out, it was very hard for me. It was very hard for the entire family, mainly my mum of course.

“Everything was turned upside-down, but we talked through it and over time it’s got easier. My mum and my sister, we’re all the same. We’ll always continue to support him, no matter what. I never thought it would have gone the way it has. But to have my parents still best friends is just . . . I’m the luckiest person ever.”