Phillip Schofield's admission of an affair with a younger, male ITV colleague - that he lied to his bosses and family about - has left his career in tatters and plunged his beloved show This Morning into a scandal it may never recover from.
According to The Mail on Sunday, Phillip met his 'on-off' friend when he was just 15 after visiting his school.
Phillip, 61, then helped the land the teen a job in TV when he turned 18 with a coveted role as a This Morning runner, before a romantic relationship between the pair began some time after.
After years of cover- ups, with Phil apparently lying to the whole ITV team - including best friend and co-presenter Holly Willoughby - his extra-marital affair finally came to light with the TV star sharing all in a bombshell statement.
The reason the cards came crashing down around the long-serving presenter have finally been revealed.
Phillip is said to have been 'forced' to confirm the allegations he has dodged for years because his former lover, unexpectedly confessed all to the lawyers he hired for him.
Schofield had hired top law firm Mishcon de Reya to represent his former partner, who is now in his mid 20s, 'presumably believing that he would keep quiet', the Mail on Sunday reports.
According to the publication, Phil's unnamed ex told his legal team that while he feared being exposed he was growing tried of lying about the relationship himself.
The move led to Schofield having to admit what had really happened to his management company of 35 years, before going public with his statement.
Breaking her silence for the first time on the furore, Holly Willoughby last night expressed her 'hurt' that Phil had kept the relationship from her too.
'When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It's been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie," said the star.
ITV also released a statement on Saturday revealing they had investigated Phil over the same allegations in 2020 but he denied the affair.
A spokesperson for ITV told the Mirror the broadcaster was “not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour” when it looked into the matter in 2020.
“ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated”, the statement read.
“Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency YMU.
“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
“Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.”
Schofield admitted the affair on Friday. His full statement can be read here.
He said: "The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning.
"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."
