Phillip Schofield sent a scathing text to Holly Willoughby as his career fell apart (Image: Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images)Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxMore Newsletters SubscribePlease enter a valid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.More NewslettersWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More infoThank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow me See OurPrivacy Notice See OurPrivacy Notice×Group 28 Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxInvalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.Sign UpNo thanks, closeWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info×Group 28Thank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow MeNo thanks, closeSee our
Privacy NoticePhillip Schofield reportedly lashed out at Holly Willoughby for not supporting him when his career began to break down last year, accusing her in a message: “You brought me down.” The TV favourite expressed his frustration to Holly via WhatsApp just before the news of his departure from This Morning hit the headlines. A close source to Phillip revealed to the Mirror: “As well as saying she had brought him down, he said he couldn’t believe his TV sister would do this to him.” Phillip felt let down by Holly’s lack of public support following rumours of a rift after his brother’s court case in May 2023. He had hoped for a public display of solidarity, like a joint statement or a photo together, to quash the media speculation about their relationship.
Phillip reportedly sent Holly an angry text ahead of his exit from This Morning
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
However, Holly did not respond to his request, reports the Mirror. OK! has contacted Phillip and Holly’s reps for comment. According to the insider, Phillip believed that Holly’s silence sealed his fate on the show as it undermined the viewers’ belief in their on-screen friendship. The source explained: “He feels it was a simple gesture that might have saved his job and her refusal to do so effectively finished him off. Believing in the TV chemistry was the bedrock of the This Morning format.” An insider revealed: “Phillip considered her a friend, his TV sister as he called her, and always backed her, even recommending her to do the jungle. Her lack of public support was a low blow in his eyes.” Phillip and his team were frustrated by her team’s silence on “false narratives running riot” – stories such as that Holly was left out of the loop regarding Phil’s brother’s legal troubles. But a close source insists Holly was clued in by Phillip himself just a month following his brother’s 2021 arrest. He confided in her about assisting the police, and she was “really supportive” of what he was going through during those tough times.
Holly and Phil had started presenting This Morning together in 2006
(Image: Getty Images)
Phillip said he felt unsupported by his ‘TV sister’ Holly
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Phillip’s brother, now 54, faced justice for 11 sexual offences with a child from October 2016 to October 2019, including two counts of sexual activity with a child. Amidst all this, Holly’s representatives remained tight-lipped on suggestions that she refused to present the show with him. Phillip revealed in May 2023 that he had “agreed to step down ” from the show after more than two decades, sharing his desire to “protect the show that I love”. Phillip then faced inquiries about his relationship with a runner, and consistently denying any involvement. Shortly after his exit from the show, he confessed to having lied about the affair which precipitated his departure from ITV, effectively shattering his career. At the time Phillip said: “I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning….that relationship was unwise but not illegal. It is now over.” On the same day he owned up to the extra-marital affair, Phillip was dropped by his long-standing agency, YMU. At the time, YMU emphasised how “honesty and integrity” are their “core values”, stating that “talent management is a relationship based entirely on trust.”
Phillip recently went on Castaway in a bid to tell ‘his side of the story’
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Just last week, Phillip made an appearance on Channel 5’s show Castaway to “set the record straight on a few things,” according to the friend. Phillip shared on air how the building “became hostile to me” and seemed to subtly criticise his colleagues from This Morning. He said: “And the people who did it to me, know, they know how important that building was to me. They know that when you throw someone under a bus, you’ve got to have a really bloody good reason to do it. Brand, ambition is not good enough. It’s not a good enough reason to throw someone under a bus.” Sign up to OK!’s daily newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for freeStory SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnHolly WilloughbyPhillip SchofieldThis Morning
