Phillip Schofield candidly spoke about 'dark times' he's been through during a tearful interview with Shirley Ballas on This Morning, when the Strictly judge opened up about her brother committing suicide.
Shirley, who has been head judge on the BBC dancing show since 2016, wrote in her best-selling autobiography Behind The Sequins about her sibling David taking his own life 20 years ago at the age of 44. She shared how she is still dealing with the tragic events decades later, as she joined Phillip and co-host Holly Willoughby in the This Morning studio.
Wiping away tears, Shirley explained: "Everybody loved him. He was a big brother. He was like a father. He was everything to me. We talked every day at four o'clock. He was really the last person that I would ever think would take his own life."
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And, it was listening to Shirley talking about her brother, that prompted Phillip to talk about how he was left at a low ebb, telling her: "If you are feeling...if you are having those thoughts, then talk to someone. I've made no bones about the fact that I went through some very, very dark times and I leaned heavily on my friends, as Holly knows."
He added: "So you've got to talk to somebody, because you can't do it on your own." Shirley replied: "I think there's still that stigma around it.. I think women tensd to chat a little bit more I feel, in the circles I'm in."
Phillip was left on the verge of tears a few days earlier on This Morning when he and Holly were joined on the sofa by Dame Kelly Holmes, 24 hours after the Olympic champion had come out as gay.
Moved by what Kelly had to say, Phillip struggled to hold it together as he told her: "Yesterday, you said on Instagram that you were scared. I think I wrote back 'don't be scared' because it'll be ok..."
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