Phillip Schofield paid ex-lover 'substantial' sum

Phillip Schofield paid his former This Morning colleague, who he had an affair with, a substantial amount of money to cover his therapy, plus for loss of job and home, Aisha Zahid reports

Phillip Schofield paid his colleague, whom he had an affair with, a substantial amount of money in a deal.

The former This Morning presenter admitted to a relationship with a younger member of the team last year.

The payment covered his legal costs, therapy, compensation for loss of job and home, but the sum has not been made public.

It also included a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) between the pair.

Mr Schofield stepped down from This Morning in May 2023, leaving with immediate effect after more than 20 years on the ITV programme.

Days later, it emerged that he had been involved in a "consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague."

Across several months following his departure, information surrounding his affair unfurled.

The pair first met when Mr Schofield's colleague was aged 15 but only had any "kind of sexual contact" was when the young man was 20.

Their relationship developed from a friendship to an affair after he joined the This Morning production team.

After the story came to light, Mr Schofield apologised for concealing the truth.

An external review was conducted by ITV into the handling of the affair.

It found that ITV made "considerable efforts" to determine the truth about the relationship

"There was a lot of unfair, inaccurate and damaging speculation about This Morning’s culture. The plc Board met with the KC this week and she told us: “there is no finding of a “toxic” culture, and had there been one, I would have said so”, Kyla Mullins General Counsel and Company Secretary at ITV said in an email to staff.

Holly Willoughby, Mr Schofield's on-screen partner, stepped down five months after the news of his affair came to light.

Last week, This Morning announced that Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard will take over as the permanent hosts of the show.

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