After revealing on social media earlier today that he is gay, Phillip Phillip Schofield joined Ruth Langsford, Eamonn Holmes and Holly Willoughby in the This Morning studio.
Holly opened the segment, referring to Phil, saying: “I’ve never been more proud of my friend than I have today.”
She then read out Philip’s statement from social media.
Holly then turned to Philip and said: “Reading that, I can hear your voice, I can hear the pain and how difficult that is for you… It’s out there now, how does this moment feel?”
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Phillip replied: “Wow. It’s funny because, everyone I’ve spoken to… you, have all been so supportive, and so loving and caring and my entire family, to a person, have grabbed us and said, ‘It’s ok, it’s ok, we love you, we’re proud of you’ and every person I tell, it gets a little lighter and lighter.
“But at the same time, I have made my decision, which is essential for me and essential for my head and it’s principle the reason why I’ve done this.
“Of course I’m really very aware that Steph and the girls are at home watching this, and we’re all together and we’ve spent a lot of time together, and they’ve been supporting us to this moment as they all knew it was coming.
“So yeah, I feel a little lighter but I’m also very, very aware, there’s no question it causes pain and upset.”
Holly commented that Phillip had been very open and honest with his wife, Steph, and he said: “I’ve never had any secrets, we’ve never had any secrets.”
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Holly then asked how Steph was coping and he said: “Yeah, it’s tough, but this is not something that’s happened quickly, I’ve had to deal with this in my head for quite some time.
“We’ve been honest and open… Steph… I can’t write in any statement what I feel about that woman. She’s amazing, she’s incredible. There is no one in my life who would have supported me the way… as a wife, as the way she’s supported me. She’s astonishing, literally astonishing.”
I’ve had to deal with this in my head for quite some time
Holly then asked Phillip why he had made the decision to announce it now, and Phillip said: “The thing is that… you know that this has been bothering me for a very long time.
“I think everybody does these things at their own speed, at their own time, when they feel time is right and there’s no question that it has, in recent times, consumed my head and has become an issue in my head and so I got to the stage
where I thought, ‘We sit here every day and I’m over there and some amazingly brave, incredible person is sitting here and I’m listening to their story and thinking, ‘Oh my god, you’re so brave,’ and I’m thinking, ‘I have to be that person’.
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“I think all you can be in your life is honest with yourself and I was getting to the point where I knew I wasn’t honest with myself.
“I was getting to the point where I didn’t like myself very much because I wasn’t being honest with myself. And so, when is the right time to do it? As a family, it’s the right time.
“There are people around the world, there are people in this country, there are people watching this.
“We always say, ‘Talk to someone’ and believe me, believe me, when we say that – you must talk to someone’.
“I have and it’s helped a lot and it’s brought me back from… when I mention those dark places in that statement, talking to people does bring you back.
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“In some cases talking to people saves you. You have to discuss it with my friends, my family, my wife. We’ve talked it through and you have to talk it through.”
Holly then commented that Phillip hadn’t had his hand forced to tell this, and Phillip said: “No. This is my decision. This is my decision.
“This is absolutely my decision. It was something I knew that I had to do. And I don’t know what the world will be like no, I don’t know how this will be taken or what people will think.
“But what I would say is, ‘Yes I am very, very conscious of the hurt and so my overriding emotion for my family is obviously going to be guilt because I do feel guilty that this can’t be anything other than a painful process.'”
This is absolutely my decision. It was something I knew that I had to do
Holly replied: “You can’t change who you are,” and Phil said: “But at the same time, I will sit here and say, ‘Actually I am proud of myself today’. And I am proud of myself today.”
Holly added: “Telling your daughters can’t have been easy…” and Phil became emotional and said: “It wasn’t easy but they were… they are so amazing in their love and support.
“I sat them down and I told them, and they jumped up and gave me a big hug and then they hugged Steph and they said, ‘It’s ok’.”
He added: “We’ll always be a family. Always, us four, is what we call ourselves. My mum has been on the phone all morning.”
When Holly asked if he was looking forward to the future and any relationships that may develop, Phillip said: “No, I don’t think so. No, I’m not thinking there.
“I’m doing each day at a time now and this has always been a slow process. There is no fast process after this.
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“This is the big day and this is the day I knew everything was pointing towards. And I could not have done it if I hadn’t been you.
Holly then ended with the words: “Whatever happens in the future, I’ll be sat by your side, forever and ever.”
Afterwards, Ruth and Eamonn joined Phillip and Holly and they all hugged.
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