Have you seen The Morning Show? The Apple TV series starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon has been a huge success, and rightfully so. Its plot filled with twists, secrets, and dirty laundry has captivated a large segment of the audience and has made us wonder, could something similar happen in reality? The answer is a resounding yes.
The protagonist of this scandal, Phillip Schofield, seems to have taken notes from The Morning Show, and now you’ll understand why.
A bit of context: who is Phillip Schofield?
Phillip Schofield, born in 1962 in Lancashire, is one of the most iconic English presenters in the United Kingdom. He was also the host of the show This Morning, a format similar to others like “The Ana Rosa Program” in Spain. Specifically, This Morning has been on the air for over 30 years (since 1988) and is one of the most beloved programs by the British audience.
Schofield, who had previously worked for other channels like the BBC (where he joined the children’s division), joined ITV and hosted several shows before ultimately settling on This Morning. Alongside Holly Willoughby (who joined in 2009), they co-hosted the morning show inseparably for 20 years. Their on-screen dynamic was key to the success of This Morning and also helped navigate through some scandals. One of these scandals was Schofield coming out as gay in 2020, after being married to a woman with children up until then.
However, Schofield inexplicably decided to “leave” This Morning in May 2023. What caused such a beloved and long-standing presenter to abruptly depart from a show like This Morning?
Why did you leave The Morning Show?
Although Schofield enjoyed a good reputation among the public, there was a dark figure in his life: his brother Timothy Schofield. Timothy had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for committing sexual offenses, some of which involved minors. In a statement shared on his social media, Phillip wrote that if his brother had confessed any of his crimes to him, he would have taken immediate action to protect the victim and his family, concluding that, as far as he was concerned, “I no longer have a brother.”
Following this revelation, Phillip’s co-presenter and colleague Holly Willoughby was absent from the show for a week due to illness. Tabloids took advantage of her absence to speculate about a supposed strained relationship between Holly and Phillip. However, in mid-May, Phillip addressed the rumors and explained that Holly had been a great emotional support for him. In fact, he described her as “his rock.”
The television duo maintained appearances as best they could during this period until Schofield definitively left the show in May. Days later, the presenter publicly admitted through the Daily Mail the reason for his departure from The Morning Show: a relationship with a much younger colleague from the program.
“Grooming”, favoritism and extramarital affairs
Schofield’s explanations are, of course, very enlightening. In his apology, the presenter admits that the relationship happened while he was still married. To top it off, the boy was quite a bit younger than he was, something Schofield defends himself from by stating that it was “reckless, but not illegal”. However, it is important to mention the fact that he met him when he was only 15 years old, in a talk he gave at his drama school.
Since then, the young man and Schofield started chatting through Twitter, up until today. The presenter admitted in an interview with the BBC that the relationship didn’t become sexual until the young man was in his twenties. Despite the questionable nature of the situation, Schofield denies in the same interview that it was a case of “grooming” (harassment of minors).
In addition to making headlines everywhere, the scandal led lawmakers to question whether ITV had investigated or taken any action regarding the situation. As of today, The Morning Show has been accused of having a “toxic environment” and not caring about the safety of its employees.
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