Former ITV presenter Phillip Schofield has been pictured with his elderly mother Pat, comforting her after revealing that he had been axed from This Morning.
In the pictures, the mother-and-son can be seen on a bench as the former 61-year-old presenter puts his arm around his 87-year-old mother and holds her hand as he delivers the devastating news.
Phillip stepped down from This Morning after 21 years before subsequently parting ways with ITV and his management company following his revelation that he had an affair with a younger colleague.
The photos of Phillip and his mother Pat were taken on Friday, May 19 just one day after his final appearance on This Morning alongside Holly Willoughby.
Phillip had learnt from his manager of his immediate exit from This Morning on this day and rushed to Newquay, Cornwall to deliver the news to his mother before ITV released an official statement on his departure the next day.
The former ITV presenter, who later confessed to having an affair with a younger colleague, aged 20, was wearing a white hoodie and jeans as he delivered the news.
‘I picked my mum up and she went in to get the fish and chips — and while she was getting them, my phone rang,’ he explained.
‘It was my then manager saying, ‘Mate, I am so sorry, it has become too loud for ITV. You will have to step down from This Morning.’ And she arrived in the car. She said to me before I arrived, ‘You’re not coming down with any bad news are you?’
‘She sat in the car and she was all happy to see me, and then she said, ‘Oh, your face has changed.’ I said, ‘Let’s go on to the headland.’ And I had to tell her,’ he told The Sun.
Meanwhile, This Morning editor Martin Frizell has spoken out on the scandal as he denied claims of ‘toxicity’ behind-the-scenes on the programme.
Speaking to a Sky News reporter, Martin said: ‘There’s lots of questions to answer but there’s a KC appointed for an external review and anything we may say now could be prejudicial, so I’d rather not.
‘There will be lots of time once it’s all over to go through who did what, when, why, but I’d rather not just now, thanks.’
Confirming he was not concerned about the review, he continued: ‘No, we’re looking forward to speaking to the KC, she’s very learned. She’ll get to the bottom of the questions to be answered, I’m sure she will find those answers.
