Phillip Schofield has admitted meeting his former lover when he was just a teenager but insists their relationship didn't start for five years.
The TV presenter who has had a dramatic downfall first met the man who we are choosing not to name when he was a drama student.
Phillip, 61, insists that he and the man had no sexual interactions until he was in his early 20s but says he helped him secure work experience on This Morning.
In a new interview, the TV star made it clear that while he met the man when he was 15 and followed him on social media – nothing about their relationship was illegal.
Phillip says he met ex-lover aged 15 before a 'consensual moment' 5 years later.
"I did not, I did not (groom him)," he told The Sun, before going on to explain that he is aware of the accusations he is facing on social media, insisting that while their relationship was "unwise", he did not groom the man.
Schofield said the affair began in 2017 after a "consensual moment" in his dressing room.
He said: "It was not a love affair, it was not a relationship, we were not boyfriends; we were mates.
"It wasn't feelings (I was getting), it was more like mates: excitement."
The former This Morning presenter said he was struggling with his sexuality at the time, and the pair were together "maybe five or six times".
He added: “We just didn’t think anyone knew, there was no lying, we thought, stupidly, that nobody knew.”
Asked by the BBC’s Amol Rajan how old his former ITV colleague was when they had the affair, Schofield said: “20 or 21.”
Schofield confirmed he did help him get a showreel together but said the younger man “was then given a job on his own merits because he was very good”.
Seeking to clarify the nature of their relationship when the former colleague was underage, Rajan said: “Just be really clear, your relationship between when you met him when he was 15 and then when he was 18 was occasional direct messages… no pictures of each other sent to each other?”
Schofield responded by shaking his head.
Asked whether the messages were flirtatious, the former TV presenter said: "Just work-related, just career advice, career help."
Schofield also agreed there was "no sort of sexual forwardness" at that time by another shake of his head.
Schofield said that while romantic encounters happened at the ITV studios nobody 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.”
Schofield reiterated that he never told his former co-host Holly Willoughby, adding: “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.”
Rajan said the crux of the issue is whether there was a potential “abuse of power”, adding that it might be perceived as “grooming”.
“The circumstances are as follows: you met someone who was a child, you were in a position of power over them. You use your power eventually to give them something they craved, which was shot at a job in the media. You nurtured a relationship and then that relationship became sexual. And they might ask, what’s the difference between that and grooming?”
Schofield replied: “Well, I would say that the initial list of things was not right anyway.
“Because it was a totally innocent picture, a totally innocent Twitter follow, of which I follow 11,400 people, and then it was a completely innocent backwards and forwards over a period of time about a job, about careers.
“What’s wrong with talking to someone no matter what age they are? Does that mean that if you are following anyone on Twitter that you absolutely don’t talk to anybody else or you don’t give advice? So I disagree with the summation that you just gave because that does paint a very grave picture.”
Phillip admits that he didn't initially believe the fling would ruin his career but explained that one moment instantly made him rethink.
"Then I saw the link with the drama school photo all those years before, and thought, 'This looks shocking'," he told the publication before going on to say that the lies around their romance soon started spiralling.
Dismissing reports that the pair had used an apartment close to ITV's studios, Phillip explained that this was not possible as a tenant was living in the property.
But he admits the man in question had been to his South East London apartment for "beers".
Phillip met the man at his drama school in Manchester and later followed him on Twitter before going on to offer advice on how to get into the television industry, as well as work on This Morning.
"I told him, 'I think I can get you an interview but I can't get you the job, if you get in and screw it up I can't save you'," he explained.
Last week, Phillip apologised for his actions after saying he had "lied" to his employers as well as the public and most importantly, his family.
In a grovelling statement, he said: "I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
"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."
