He was once the king of daytime television and one of ITV’s highest-paid stars.
But when disgraced presenter Phillip Schofield left the channel last year after admitting to having a relationship with a much younger colleague on This Morning – and then lying about it – he said things became so dark he planned to take it off. life.
In his much-criticized television return to Channel 5’s Cast Away, he tells how he had “everything ready” for a suicide attempt, but decided against it when his eldest daughter, Molly, convinced him not to.
Speaking in the first episode of the three-part series airing on Monday, the former This Morning presenter, 62, said: “In the last eighteen months it’s gotten as dark as it can get.
‘A year ago I was so, so close. I had everything in place, everything was set up and ready and it was Molly who was looking after me.’
When Phillip Schofield left ITV after admitting to having a relationship with a much younger colleague, and then lying about it, he said he planned to take his own life.
In his much-criticized television return to the Channel 5 program Náufrago, he tells how he had “everything ready” for a suicide attempt, but his daughter dissuaded him.
He explained: “Molly and Ruby looked after me at the time, and Molly said, ‘Can you imagine what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull it off?’ Can you imagine what would happen and what it would do to me if you did this under my supervision?
‘That was enough, enough to take a step back from the edge. They could have hospitalized me, I just ran to the family home, locked the doors and I was there.’
He later pays tribute to his wife Stephanie Lowe, Molly, 31, and youngest daughter Ruby, 28, saying: “Without them I wouldn’t be here.”
Schofield’s return to TV comes 16 months after he was forced to apologize to the Mail for lying about his affair with his former This Morning colleague.
He also lied to ITV and his former co-presenter Holly Willoughby about the affair and has not worked since.
But during the show, he addresses the relationship, saying, “It’s like the biggest grenade of your life went off.” You know you let people down, you know you let yourself down.
“It was reckless and unprofessional. I will regret it forever. I ruined it. I made a mistake and hurt the people around me.’
Schofield’s admission that he had enjoyed the romance came three years after he came out as gay live on This Morning, with Ms Willoughby by his side.
Speaking in the first episode of the three-part series airing on Monday, he said: “I was very, very close.” I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready’ (pictured on the show in May 2023)
Phillip recalled how a conversation with his daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, prevented him from moving forward (pictured with wife Stephanie Lowe, Molly and Ruby in 2018).
It was a secret that he had hidden from his entire family and colleagues, but he says he is proud to reveal the truth about his sexuality: “I am very proud of what I did and I know that coming out to so many people is liberating. And It’s freedom on a plate.
‘Absolutely. Be yourself. Live your life to the fullest. That’s the saying: just live your best life. But for me, doing it later in life, at this point it has given me more, um, anguish than joy, because I’m fully aware of the damage it leaves.’
In fact, it was extremely difficult for his family. “When my father came out, it was very difficult for me,” Molly reveals. ‘It was very hard for the whole family. Especially my mother, of course, everything was upside down. But we talked about it and over time it became easier.”
Despite the affair and coming out as gay, Schofield wears his wedding ring throughout the show, proving that he is still married to Stephanie. During the show, he breaks his silence about the scandal, hinting at his own experience when he says: “What people don’t realize is that you get hit, but then there are other people affected.”
Molly, who works as her father’s publicist, adds: “We have seen him at his lowest moments, but I have been very proud of him and, as a daughter, to see the love that people had for him, when it is taken away from him.” . It’s just heartbreaking.’
He added: “Strangely, everything that has happened recently has brought us closer together.”
Notably, Schofield does not mention Ms Willoughby or her former lover, with whom he signed a mutual confidentiality agreement earlier this year in exchange for a six-figure payment.
He added: “That was enough, enough to take a step back from the edge.” “They could have hospitalized me, I just ran to the family home, closed the doors and I was there.”
Schofield’s admission that he had enjoyed the romance came three years after he came out as gay live on This Morning, with Holly Willoughby alongside.
He will leave viewers wondering if he is referring to Mrs Willoughby when he said: “When you throw someone under a bus, you must have a very good reason for doing it.”
In another outburst, Schofield said: ‘I miss most of it. But there are parts that I really, really, really don’t miss. You learn a lot about people. I don’t miss it.’
Since leaving television, Schofield says he “spent days in bed” where he watched the news “in a daze.”
As for what he thinks of his return to the spotlight, Schofield admits he expects little sympathy. “I don’t do it because I’m poor,” he says. ‘I don’t think I have any rights. I have no right to be poor.