Entertainment
This Morning runner Phillip Schofield admitted affair with ‘paid off by ITV’-Rachael O'Connor-Entertainment – Metro
An insider reportedly claimed someone senior at ITV must have known about the payment.
A new report claims that the young runner who Phillip Schofield had an affair with was given money by ITV after the relationship ended
The young runner who Phillip Schofield sensationally admitted to lying about having an affair with was reportedly ‘paid off’ by ITV.
Former This Morning presenter Schofield, 61, left the show earlier this month, and later resigned from ITV completely after admitting he had lied about an affair with a much younger man who worked as a runner on the show.
The young runner, who has not been named, was 15 when they met, with Schofield saying the ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair began after he turned 18.
This Morning has been in chaos since the bombshell confession, with Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary filling in for Schofield and Holly Willoughby, who is reportedly set to return to the sofa next week.
Former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes has since done a tell-all interview with GB News claiming rumours about the relationship were rife, while former This Morning regular Dr Ranj Singh has also spoken out about the ‘toxic’ feeling on set.
Now the Daily Mail is reporting that the young man who Schofield admitted an affair with was given a payment by ITV at the end of his relationship with the presenter.
Former This Morning presenter Schofield admitted to lying about the affair earlier this month (Picture: ITV)
The man had been moved from This Morning to Loose Women after his relationship with the presenter reportedly soured, which Holmes had said was a ‘promotion’ he had not asked for.
According to the outlet, sources have claimed the runner was given a financial settlement from the broadcaster, which ITV have reportedly refused on numberous occasions to comment on or deny.
An insider reportedly claimed someone senior at ITV must have known about the payment as it required ‘people of some seniority’ to sign off it.
A source claimed a person of some seniority would have had to sign off on any payment (Picture: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock)
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It comes after Holmes’ late-night interview on Monday with GB News’ Dan Wootton, where he called for the ‘unprecedented’ promotion of the runner to be investigated, particularly ‘who authorised it.’
Holmes claimed he heard from a reliable source that the runner would arrive via taxi from Schofield’s home on Friday mornings after they went out on Thursday nights.
Holmes went on to claim the young man was ‘in a bad way’ and he and Holmes’ wife Ruth Langsford kept an eye on him, but he ‘never admitted’ any sort of relationship with Schofield but he would ‘phone often’ for ‘comfort’.
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‘We never intruded, we just asked if he was okay, and we were here if he needed support. He felt alone and no one was looking after him. But there was press pressure on him.’
He claimed there was an ‘overriding, more than suspicion’ on what was going on, and accused ITV of a ‘total cover-up’ as he claimed the ‘thorough investigation’ involved simply asking both men if they were in a relationship, which they denied, and then moved on.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to ITV and representatives for Phillip Schofieled for comment.
Phillip Schofield statement in full
‘I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
‘Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
‘When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody “forced” me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me. In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship.
‘But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
‘I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.
‘I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me.
‘I will reflect on my very bad judgment in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it. To protect his privacy, I am not naming this individual and my deepest wish is that both he and his family can now move on with their lives free from further intrusion, and that this statement will enable them to do so.
‘I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.’
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