Phillip Schofield says coming out gay was 'toughest time ever'

Phillip Schofield said his decision to publicly come out as gay was his "toughest time ever".

The This Morning presenter opened up about his sexuality in February in an emotional Instagram post before being interview by co-host Holly Willoughby just moments later.

Schofield, 58, opens up about his struggles in his new book Life Is What You Make it, and discussed his experience with Lorraine on Thursday.

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Speaking candidly about his decision to come out as gay, Schofield said: "Toughest time ever. When you're going through something like that, you're trying to pick your way through.

"I say in there its not in my nature to hurt people, isn't the way I'm built."

He spoke of how in the months before he went public, he was debating whether to reveal his sexuality and the people it might hurt by doing so.

"I couldn't eat, then I couldn't sleep... people are asking if I'm OK but I knew I'd just spent the whole weekend staring into the fire and thinking 'What do I do here?'"

Schofield also spoke about how there were "no secrets" between him and his wife of 27 years, Stephanie Lowe, who was the only person who knew about his hidden sexuality at the time.

"We talked the whole thing through. There have never been any secrets. When I knew, she knew. And it wasn't like a sudden ping," he said.

"It was tripping me up and I didn't understand."

The TV personality urged men to open up about their mental health struggles. In his new book, he revealed how mentally coming to terms with his sexuality and not speaking about it led to a drop in weigt from 11 to nine stone.

He said: "If you are struggling, if you are a bloke, you have to talk to someone. Trust in the fact your family will hopefully accept whatever it is you need to say, and your friends will be there because they love you."