Phillip Schofield has admitting having an affair with a younger member of staff at ITV. The affair was not illegal, The Mirror reports, but the former This Morning star has been dropped by talent agency YMU.
The national title has stated the talent agency and Phillip parted ways on Thursday. YMU's statement said: "Honesty and integrity are core values for YMU’s whole business, defining everything we do. Talent management is a relationship based entirely on trust.
“This week, we have learned important new information about our client Phillip Schofield. These facts contradicted what Phillip had previously told YMU, as well as the external advisors we had brought in to support him.
“As a result, on Thursday we agreed to part company with Phillip, with immediate effect.” Phillip said: “It is with the most profound regret that after 35 years of being faultlessly managed by YMU I have agreed to step down from their representation with immediate effect.“
Phillip said: “It is with the most profound regret that after 35 years of being faultlessly managed by YMU I have agreed to step down from their representation with immediate effect.“
In a later statement, which Phillip shared with the Daily Mail, he admitted to having an affair with a younger ITV employee.
He 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.“
Phillip also revealed he has quit ITV altogether, which means he won't be hosting the British Soap Awards next week.
In the lengthy statement, Phillip said he was "deeply sorry" to the publication and his lawyers for "misleading" them on a story they wanted to publish earlier this week.
He added how he had "not been truthful" about the relationship in "an effort to protect my ex-colleague".
Phillip insisted his recent departure from This Morning was "unrelated" but had "fuelled speculation and raised questions", which he says have been "impacting" his ex.
He added: "For his sake it is important for me to be honest now".
The former presenter, who had hosted This Morning from 2002, added how he was "painfully conscious" that he had "lied" to his employers at ITV as well as colleagues, friends, agents, the media, the public and "most importantly of all to my family".
In the lengthy apology, he added: "I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife."
