Phillip Schofield steps down from ITV after affair with "much younger male"

As I thought. What actually happened means nothing to you. Same for me. Where we differ is I think the scrutiny and lambasting in the media and online towards this man and this situation is disgusting. You don’t. You think it’s warranted?

you also seem to be downplaying and minimising the effects this could be having on Schofield.

So it’s not at all OTT. Playing stupid games deserves this for Schofield?

as a human, would you have any sympathy-compassion for him feeling very overwhelmed with all the negativity he is having to endure now?

or would you revert back to “he played stupid games so he deserves now to endure/suffer?”

Eh, are you playing stupid now? What’s happening to him? He’s been written about and discussed and lambasted day in day out.

Where can the full interview be watched?

So why has he lost his career?

1. He went against his employment contract
2. He lied to his wife to his children to his Co host who supported him coming out, to his employer -he also kept very significant information from the public that would have impacted their view of him, and hence his employment standing in the entertainment industry - however
3. He had a “relationship” (I placed that in brackets because according to Philip it was a series of encounters and not a relationship) with a person much younger than him, and in circumstances that many people view as inappropriate - considering how the lack of clear facts led many to assume it as child abuse or grooming at the very least, just shows how close to the wind he sailed.

The general public like their daytime tv hero’s to be squeaky clean or if they are going to stray into the world of doing the dirt on their partner, that they at least have the cop on to choose someone more appropriate than a youngster- whether legal or otherwise

I don’t share your view around the whole comments piece- this is part and parcel of being in the public eye- I don’t know if the sentiment is overall positive, negative or misinformed but I’d bet it’s a combination of all 3, and probably equal weighting for each given the comments on this thread alone are anything to go by.

The comments will fade in time, down to a trickle-and for someone like Philip that’s worse than being talked about negatively - it means the public have moved on and forgotten you

I don’t believe that interview was genuine and from the heart- there was a lot of deflection - there was a lot of “my life is in danger” etc etc Now is not the time to play the mental health card- you apologise again to all, you call yourself stupid and you remove yourself from the public eye for a number of months and see how public opinion of you goes. And if you’re hurting mentally, then get private help- we don’t need to know that.

I can’t help but think Philip wanted to endear himself to his “audience” and try and manipulate sentiment toward him- his career is over, and he has himself to blame.

Are you forgetting the bits where he knew this person since they were 11, followed on twitter, got them a job, and just as they turned the age of consent asked them out. As far as I know DoCaprio did not do any if this.

Now it may have just happened they grew attracted to each other and the age difference when younger seems starker (will not call it sick like others) then so be it but ya his career is finished

Wearing his wedding ring and shagging a fella young enough to be his grandson. What a joke.

Schofield and the relationship with the runner was known about for a few years. ITV knew. The Sun knew. However the details of the relationship specifically was mostly contained to online only. In anonymous forums and gossip sites and thus could officially be dismissed as counterfactual i.e. if my auntie had balls she'd be my uncle. It was an open secret as such. Unwise, not illegal and so long as it was all contained to gossip and rumour and the audience for This Morning who accepted his sexuality and gave him his privacy then it was all fine since the money kept rolling in. It would still have been an open secret but for what was happening with his brother. He is in jail now for 12 years. Phillip knew about his brothers unwise and illegal behaviour and went weeks/months without reporting it to authorities. It affected the show and relationships therein. Holly isn't stupid, likely played the tape forward, and distanced herself from Phil. This all leaked out and the tabloids (who all knew the open secret) smelled blood as they always do.

It all got to the point where the show itself was consistently on the front page (e.g. the Phil and Holly rift initially and then Phil leaving the show). When they did the daily paper review during this then it was consistently omitted. It all became insulting to people watching and the curiosity grew as to why there were rift rumours/why he left. The damn broke and the relationship with the runner became known about beyond the internet into the mainstream. It finally had to be addressed and now ITV and the show is under such scrutiny.

Bringing up Caroline Flack was a master stroke. When the first thing you say in the interview to Amol Rajan is that you are experiencing suicide ideation similar to someone who committed suicide then the interviewer will immediately be on the back foot and will become far more reluctant to ask difficult, probing, awkward and uncomfortable questions. Given the stated frame of mind in question then journalistic duties of care for the interviewee come into play. That the interviewee in question would also have abided by these standard then it makes me cynical. Now we see people in the media opining (inoculating themselves) that he should (rightly) be left alone and now, given the profile and reach of those defending him, people will inevitably back off and it was be old news in a week. Whatever the result of any investigations/commissions taking place here the goal of the BBC interview was to elicit sympathy and, regardless of my cynicism, it achieved that goal.