A number of panellists on Loose Women were furious that they were dragged into the fallout of Phillip Schofield's affair with a much younger member of ITV staff, according to reports. It has emerged the affair occurred while he was still married and he has now been dropped by his talent agency YMU.
After he released details of the affair, which was not illegal, he has also stepped down from ITV completely – meaning he will no longer host the British Soap Awards next week, The Mirror reports.
Phillip admitted the affair but refused to name his former colleague, with whom he had a relationship with.
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In a statement shared on Friday evening, Phillip said: "I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning. Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over."
ITV bosses have said they have been left shocked by Phillip Schofield's statement and admission of his affair and later insisted they launched an investigation in 2020, but were lied to.
However, new claims have been made that the ITV employee was moved to Loose Women from This Morning after Phil and the employee's relationship "turned sour", leaving the stars "livid".
One of the show's stars is said to have even made a formal complaint about the situation.
It was also claimed by the Mail Online's Dan Wootton: "I spoke to a number of the Loose Women presenters personally who were livid and worried that they were having to deal with the very real fallout of Phillip's mixed up professional and personal life.
"At least one of the stars had made a formal complaint to management.
"Another told me: 'We shouldn't be having to deal with Phillip's messed up situation. We love (the young worker) but he's very troubled now. What if he can't cope?'"
The Mirror have contacted ITV for comment.
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