Phillip Schofield and fellow presenter Holly Willoughby. Photo / Supplied
Holly Willoughby has claimed her TV co-star Phillip Schofield lied to her over his affair with a young employee as former colleagues told The Telegraph it was an “open secret”.
On Saturday, ITV admitted it has investigated the allegations “several times” from early 2020, but said it didn’t find any evidence.
Carolyn McCall, the channel’s chief executive, was under mounting pressure to explain how the scandal on This Morning went undetected for so long.
Eamonn Holmes, who shared presenting duties on the flagship daytime show for 15 years, is among former colleagues highly critical of the broadcaster’s handling of the issue.
An industry source said on Saturday that Holmes would be willing to share information with any inquiry into the matter, believing “clear opportunities were missed”.
A separate This Morning insider told The Telegraph: “The idea that senior management didn’t know is for the birds”.
In a statement posted to Instagram, Willoughby, 42, said: “It’s taken time to process yesterday’s news. When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie.”
It is understood that ITV executives are now likely to face questions over their handling of the matter from the Commons Media, Culture and Sport Committee on June 6.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, its chairman, said: “It will be interesting to know who knew what and when at ITV and This Morning”.
Meanwhile, Esther McVey, a former ITV presenter and Cabinet minister, predicted that Ms McCall, who has led the broadcaster since 2018, would be gone “in a matter of days”.
It is understood that Ms McCall has no intention of launching an inquiry into what went wrong, believing that her star presenter’s admission of dishonesty speaks for itself.
Schofield, 61, admitted on Friday to lying to ITV, his agent and his family about the “unwise” on-off affair with a man reportedly 30 years his junior, who was a teenager when they first met. He had stood down from This Morning the previous week.
On Saturday, ITV revealed it had first investigated the rumours in 2020, around the time Schofield – then married for 27 years with two children – came out as gay.
“Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency YMU,” a spokesman said.
“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.”
A senior source at the network later told The Telegraph that executives re-visited the allegations “at several points” after the first probe in early 2020.
“It’s not like we closed the book on it and thought “that’s fine then”, because the rumours were continuing,” the source said.
“We literally repeatedly questioned him [Schofield] face-to-face. It begs the question - what else could we have done? It’s not like we could follow him home.”
Many of those involved in This Morning have been scathing, however, pointing to purported evidence of the close relationship, albeit circumstantial, online.
“It was an open secret – if they [executives] didn’t know about the affair, why was he moved?” said a This Morning insider. “Surely ITV has questions to answer.”
Schofield has denied both that the young man was moved to a different ITV programme and that he subsequently left the network altogether because of him.
Martin Daubney, a This Morning contributor for six years from 2013, told GB News: “I considered myself close to Phil and Holly and all I will say is that these rumours have been long going around and the only thing I’m surprised about is that it’s taken so long for it to come out. This story has much, much more legs.”
Holmes, a former This Morning host, has sought to point the spotlight squarely at ITV executives in recent days.
An industry source said: “There are questions that ITV are going to have to consider in the days ahead. Eamonn is open to speaking to any inquiry.
“He feels that opportunities were missed to deal with things properly.”
Formerly the boss of EasyJet, McCall was paid £3.5 million last year by ITV, where she has overseen rows involving the axing of the Jeremy Kyle Show and the departure of Piers Morgan following his critical comments about the Duchess of Sussex.
Critics accuse her of being “woke”.
The ITV source sought to distance Ms McCall from the failed probes into Schofield, saying: “Carolyn doesn’t manage the talent.”
It is understood that the management of stars such as Schofield would fall to Martin Frizell, editor of This Morning, Emma Gormley, managing director daytime of ITV Studios, and ultimately Kevin Lygo, the managing director for media and entertainment.
Only last week Mr Lygo greeted Schofield’s departure from This Morning by describing him as “hands down one of the best broadcasters of his generation”, while promising him a new “prime time” show, an offer that has now been withdrawn, along with Schofield’s opportunity to host the British Soap Awards next weekend.
An ITV spokesman said: “Further to our statement last night, ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated.”
He added: “Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.”