Phillip Schofield’s lover cannot talk about how affair wrecked his life

Phillip Schofield was as soon as so highly effective at ITV that he might make or break the careers of anybody working on the channel — whether or not they have been in entrance of the digital camera or behind it.

As many staff on the community put it: he ran the present. And his affect wasn’t confined to This Morning, the programme he hosted for 21 years, however the whole community.

‘What Phillip wanted, Phillip got,’ one former workers member says. ‘If he didn’t need somebody there, then they went. If he needed one thing modified, it was modified.’

So when Schofield determined that he didn’t wish to run the danger of a a lot youthful former lover ever divulging particulars of their affair, he employed attorneys to barter a non-disclosure settlement, which the person concerned voluntarily signed as a part of an settlement to pay a considerable sum, and the doc was put to at least one aspect, by no means to be talked about once more.

Given the facility he wielded, Schofield was little doubt assured that, just like the romance itself, the existence of this NDA, although completely authorized, wouldn’t develop into public data.

But when requested about its existence in current days, Schofield’s lawyer got here clear, confirming that not solely had an settlement been signed however a six-figure cost had been handed over.

And now, for the primary time, the Mail can reveal the horrifying influence the affair had on the lifetime of the individual involved, who was — in any case — 34 years youthful than Schofield.

The former producer — who left ITV with a payout in 2020 — has seen his life turned the other way up since May final yr when Schofield, after being confronted about lies he’d advised concerning the affair, issued a press release to the Mail confirming that it had taken place.

Every week later, in a bid to rehabilitate himself, the presenter gave an interview to the BBC’s Amol Rajan, earlier than retreating from public life to lick his wounds and spend time along with his aged mom.

Meanwhile, the youthful man, after being pressured out of a profession he liked, continues to be making an attempt to piece his life again collectively.

While he has by no means been named by the mainstream media, given the rumours swirling round on social media platforms he has required authorized assist to take care of his privateness and it’s no secret that the star, as soon as considered price £20 million, has funded a lot of these bills.

One former colleague mentioned: ‘He had been involved at ITV for most of his adult life, he had friends there, a support network and most of all he absolutely loved the job.

‘Things went wrong with Phillip, he moved onto Loose Women — which was apparently a promotion — but then, after a short time, that came to an end.

‘Now it turns out he has been gagged. It all seems very unfair. He has been struggling for some time, he had a lot of friends at ITV and we often think about him and hope he is doing OK.

‘It has been tumultuous for him, just when he was getting his life sorted.’

Friends of the person, who was often known as Person X at ITV, are additionally offended about the truth that Schofield had the chance to have his say and share some intimate particulars of the romance, whereas his youthful lover now not has that alternative as a result of he was persuaded to signal an NDA.

‘Nobody is saying he wants to [speak out] but to not have the option is cruel,’ added the pal.

Person X isn’t the one individual to have misplaced out over the affair, after all. Schofield himself needed to resign from all of his commitments at ITV, misplaced profitable model offers and was stripped of all his charity roles.

He is left to whereas away his days within the West London enclave of Chiswick, the place he has lived since splitting with spouse Stephanie Lowe in 2020, whereas his former ITV colleagues proceed profitable TV careers.

Only on Friday, he would have discovered it laborious to overlook the channel’s announcement that his former sidekick Ben Shephard is to interchange him on This Morning alongside Cat Deeley.

Industry insiders say there may be ‘literally no chance of any comeback’ now.

The seeds of his dramatic fall from grace have been sown properly over a decade in the past when a mutual pal of each Schofield and his spouse Stephanie requested if he would give a chat to a theatre college within the North-West of England, the place a 15-year-old relative of the pal was a pupil.

Happy to oblige, Schofield, then in his late 40s, made time in his busy schedule to make the journey and, unsurprisingly, his go to precipitated nice pleasure.

As ever, Schofield was enthusiastic, encouraging and beneficiant along with his time and he definitely impressed {the teenager} whose relative had organised the go to.

The boy expressed an curiosity in a profession in tv and, on the acceptable time, Schofield organized an interview for him however nothing extra.

Bright and handsome, although in some respects younger for his age, the younger artificial a very good impression when he was finally invited to London and commenced engaged on This Morning when he was in his late teenagers. A yr or so later, their affair started.

While their colleagues all deny that they have been conscious of the romance, there have been definitely clues. Schofield took to inviting the person, who’s now 27 — the identical age as Schofield’s youngest daughter — to glitzy business capabilities, usually to the amazement of different staff on the broadcaster. One yr, he was a visitor on ITV’s VIP boat to the National Television Awards, for instance.

At one specific awards ceremony in 2019, he surprised ITV colleagues, by — as one put it — ‘declaring his love for Phil in no uncertain terms’ as he walked into the channel’s field.

Soon afterwards, he was moved to lunchtime chat present, Loose Women. The community later insisted this was a promotion however others there say he was given little alternative within the matter. Whatever the reality, it meant Schofield didn’t should take care of the fallout from their ill-advised liaison every day.

Now the world is aware of concerning the NDA, it could be intriguing to know what the celebrities who publicly spoke out in help of Schofield on the time the scandal broke are considering.

Sir Elton John jumped to his defence, saying that the entire scandal was ‘homophobic’, whereas actor Rupert Everett mentioned that the media ought to ‘drop’ the story — regardless of ITV launching an impartial inquiry into the matter.

Jeremy Clarkson got here out in Schofield’s favour, too, stating that ‘no crime had been committed’ and, as not too long ago as final weekend, Schofield’s former ITV stablemate Lorraine Kelly admitted she was ‘heartbroken’ when the connection was revealed.

‘It’s only a disgrace for the wonderful profession that he’s had, for it to finish like that,’ she advised the Sunday Times. She added that ‘everybody lost their minds a wee bit’ throughout the scandal.

What can’t be denied is that two males’s lives lie in tatters and the nation has misplaced one among its most completed broadcasters.

And all as a result of Schofield made that fateful determination to journey north from his Oxfordshire house to share his expertise with some keen younger drama college students.