The former ITV presenter Phillip Schofield has been spotted for the first time in a month. The 61 year old was seen in Cornwall for his mum's birthday.
Phillip was wearing a casual blue T-shirt and white linen shorts and was holding his car keys, mobile phone and vape in a car park. It is understood he was in the area to celebrate his mum Pat's 87th birthday reports The Daily Mirror.
The broadcaster also appeared to have a slight tan and a fresh haircut, and looked quite different to his paler appearance when the scandal broke last month. After he presented his final This Morning show, he went to visit his mum and was seen putting his arm around her and holding her hand on a beach in Newquay, Cornwall.
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The pair drove from her house to their favourite fish and chip shop in the town centre where the enjoyed a meal before visiting Pentire Headland. The former ITV star had driven from London to support his mother as his brother Timothy was being sentenced on that Friday for child-sex offences.
His new public appearance comes after he admitted that he was scared to go out. In a series of recent interviews, Phillip revealed the impact it has had on his mental health.
He said: "I do not know a time I will be able to walk out of the door. I don’t have any spirit.
"My friends tell me, ‘It will get better’. It won’t. Not now. Not this one."
Phillip admitted he has never suffered any abuse in public before, but has shared he now fears he will be shouted at or even spat on. He told the Sun: "Are they spitting on me because I had an affair at work and lied about it?"
In his interview with the BBC, Phillip compared himself to Caroline Flack and shared how he felt 'broken' and had 'lost everything. Famous named have some to Phillip's defence, including Sir Elton John.
In an interview with the Radio Times, the 76-year-old singer claimed a heterosexual relationship with a similar age gap would not have attracted such negative coverage. Sir Elton made the comments as he denounced the status of LGBT+ rights and individuals in America.
The musician said: "Well, it's all going pear-shaped in America. There's violence, (discriminatory) laws enacted in Florida, which are disgraceful.
"There's a law now that, if you visit a doctor in Florida, they can refuse to treat you if you're gay, which I find just unbelievable. We seem to be going backwards.
"And that spreads. It's like a virus that the LGBTQ+ movement is suffering."
He added: "I don't like it at all. It's a growing swell of anger and homophobia that's around America. I don't know if it's around Britain because I haven't been here that much. But I feel that the Phillip Schofield thing has been totally homophobic.
"If it was a straight guy in a fling with a young woman, it wouldn't even make the papers." The former This Morning star resigned from ITV in May and was dropped by his talent agency, YMU, after admitting to having had an “unwise, but not illegal” relationship with a younger male colleague.
The veteran broadcaster later admitted lying to ITV colleagues, including Holly Willoughby, saying he did it to protect the man he had an affair with.
