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Phillip Schofield's daughters and wife break silence 16 months after This Morning and ITV scandal
by Jessica Sansome · Manchester Evening NewsPhillip Schofield's wife and daughters have spoken for the first time since he came out on This Morning and was forced to resign from ITV after lying about a relationship with a colleague.
The 62-year-old former presenter will be seen on screen in Channel 5's Phillip Schofield: Cast Away next week, his first appearance on a TV series since he left ITV in May 2023 after he admitted to an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger male colleague.
The three-part series, which begins on Monday (September 30), sees Phillip marooned on a tropical island off the coast of Madagascar with a handful of cameras, with the first episode showing his shelter nearly being blown off on the first night, as well him being lost at night and looking for crabs to eat.
Phillip, who had presented This Morning alongside Holly Willoughby since 2009 until his exit, appears to hint in the first episode that he considered suicide, as he talks about how when his daughters, Ruby and Molly, were looking after him.
Speaking alone to camera, on the island, he says when he was in the media storm, he "got so, so close, I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready". He added: "Molly said, ‘Do you imagine what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull this off? Imagine what would happen. Can you imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch’, and that was just enough to take a step back from the edge.
"I could have been hospitalised. I had the option to be hospitalised, but then I thought, that’s going to get out. So I just raced to the family home and shut the gates."
Wife Stephanie Lowe, who Phillip has been married to for more than 20 years, appeared in the first episode of the programme, with their two grown-up daughters Molly and Ruby enjoying a BBQ in the garden before he sets off for a tropical island off the coast of Madagascar.
(Image: PA)
While speaking on the show, Phillip admitted that coming out later in life has given him “more anguish than joy because I’m fully aware of the damage that it leaves”. He also praised his family for never having “wavered” in their support of him.
His daughter Molly Schofield also gave an interview about her reaction on the Channel 5 show, saying: “When my dad came out, it was… very hard for me, it was very hard for the entire family – mainly my mum, of course – everything was turned upside down.
"But we talked through it, and over time it’s got easier. You know, my mum, my sister (Ruby), we’re all the same, we will always continue to support him no matter what,” she added. "And I never thought it would have gone the way it has. But to have my parents still best friends is just… I’m the luckiest person ever.”
She also appeared to refer to the media storm over his affair, and said this has “made us closer”. Molly said: "We’ve seen him in his lowest times, but I’ve been so proud of him, so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him… taken away, it’s just heartbreaking.”
(Image: PA)
She also hoped that the desert island experience, where “you can’t fake it”, will give the public the opportunity to “see him, how we see him, because he is just amazing".
During the BBQ segment, Stephanie also told Phillip: "What people don’t realise is that they batter you, but then there are other people affected." She also said: "There’s no question by doing this, you’re popping your head back up above the parapet for the very few horrid people that there are out there."
Phillip responded, saying that "there’ll be a lot of people, who would hope that I suffer horribly". His younger daughter, Ruby, who spoke briefly, asked if he is going to miss the family more or the dog. Phillip says: "That’s the hardest thing, not having you guys at the end of the phone or just popping around, that will be very hard.”
He has previously praised his daughters Ruby and Molly for “guarding him”, when he was feeling “numbness” after admitting to the affair last year, and being dropped by his talent agency.
In the first episode, the TV personality also recounts a visit to his mother, Pat, in the hospital, when a fan gave him a hug and told him he supported him. Getting tearful, he adds: "I never, in my wildest, wildest dreams, thought that I would sit here and and look at this and do this, discover something new every day.
"(It’s) nice to discover new things about yourself, like for you, for you personally. You don’t look online. People tell you what they think you’re like."
Phillip Schofield: Cast Away airs at 9pm on Monday, September 30, on Channel 5, and will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday at the same time.