Entertainment
Rupert Everett defends Phillip Schofield and blasts ‘homophobic and outrageous’ affair coverage-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro
Rupert said the affair was ‘none of our business.’
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Rupert Everett has slammed the coverage of Phillip Schofield’s affair as ‘homophobic’ and ‘outrageous’ and should be ‘dropped’ by the media.
Phil, 61, confessed to having an ‘unwise but not illegal’ relationship with a young runner on This Morning and quit ITV with ‘immediate effect.’
The My Policeman actor, 64, agreed that reports on the relationship between the former Dancing On Ice presenter and a younger male colleague were disproportionate and a ‘moment of insanity’.
In an interview with The Sun, published on Thursday, Phil, who came out as gay on This Morning in 2020, suggested that part of the backlash against him was due to homophobia.
He said age gaps in reported heterosexual relationships involving Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, who has not publicly dated anyone over the age of 25, were ‘accepted’.
Rupert is voicing a new documentary on playwright, actor and director Noel Coward, who was a closeted homosexual at a time when it was illegal to be gay.
Rupert said there was ‘Puritan fascism that’s going on’ (Picture: Getty)
Phil has previously called the coverage of the affair ‘homophobic’ (Picture: BBC)
Speaking to Channel 4 about the fallout from Phil’s affair, the My Best Friend’s Wedding star said: ‘What’s he done? He’s married and has had an affair with someone that’s legal to have an affair with.
‘Unless there’s something else that we haven’t heard about they should drop it.
‘It’s outrageous, this kind of Puritan fascism that’s going on. If it’s just about him having an affair and lying to his agency – why can’t you lie to your agent?’
Phil said Leo isn’t criticised for being in heterosexual relationships with younger women (Picture: NurPhoto/Shutterstock)
Rupert said the affair was not the business of anyone but Phil, not even his former This Morning sofa-mate Holly Willoughby.
‘Everything about today is insane. But that is another moment of insanity unless there’s something they have about him, having an affair and being married,’ he said.
‘That’s his business. It’s not our business. It’s not Holly’s business. The fact that it’s on the front pages of all our newspapers – we’ve got so many more important things to talk about.’
Everett also said Phil’s affair wasn’t any of Holly’s business (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
Phil previously told The Sun that attraction was ‘no different in the gay world as it is in the heterosexual world.’
He said he and his former lover had met when the man was 15 and he was ‘maybe’ in his mid-50s, but added that the affair began after the man started working at ITV and had been ‘consensual’.
Lawyers representing Schofield and the man have confirmed these accounts.
Phil reiterated that he had not ‘groomed’ the man.
‘Attraction is attraction. It’s no different in the gay world as it is in the heterosexual world or in the lesbian world,’ he told The Sun.
Everett said there were ‘more important’ things to talk about (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
‘There shouldn’t be a difference. This is where homophobia comes in.
‘We did first meet when he was 15, I visited the drama school [he attended].
‘So yeah, there’s a difference. It’s accepted by Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s not accepted if it’s in the gay world.’
Phil has since said he’s too scared to leave his house over fears of being spat on.
‘I don’t have any spirit. My friends tell me, “It will get better”. It won’t. Not now. Not this one.’
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He added to The Sun: ‘I am getting by hour by hour. I have got my girls and my friends.’
Metro.co.uk has previously contacted Schofield’s lawyer for comment.
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