Phillip Schofield: I ‘absolutely’ did not ask ex-colleague to sign NDA

Phillip Schofield has denied allegations that his former colleague was made to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to keep him silent over their affair and explaining why he revealed the truth saying that the “lie got too big for both of us”.

The 61-year-old former presenter has been speaking to the BBC’s Amol Rajan in his first interview since resigning from ITV last week and being dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to the “unwise but not illegal” relationship.

Rajan asked: “Do you know if he has signed an NDA, a non-disclosure agreement, preventing him from speaking?”

Schofield said: “Did I make him sign an NDA? No, absolutely not.”

He also said there is no injunction or any NDA preventing media coverage of their relationship and that his former lover was not paid off for his silence and he is free to speak freely.

“What he wants is for all of this to go away,” Schofield added of his former colleague’s stance on the matter. “He wants a quiet life.

“He didn’t want any of this to happen in the first place, I’m sure he completely regrets it. It was my fault so he has nothing to regret because it was my fault.”

Asked why he believes the story is coming out now, Schofield said: “The lie got too big for both of us. It just got enormous.

“It was growing and growing and growing and it crossed over from online to mainstream news.”

Schofield also said a claim that there was an injunction or super injunction – a legal instrument which can also prevent the media publishing stories – or that he got the young man fired from This Morning, or “moved on” to Loose Women, “completely untrue”.

Schofield said Rajan would know that in TV “you can’t have someone moved on without it going through a whole team of people”.

He added that his former lover was “never going to out me” and neither was The Sun newspaper.

He was also denied claims that the newspaper learned about his affair.

GB News presenter Dan Wootton, who formerly worked at The Sun, has suggested that the tabloid newspaper knew about Schofield’s relationship and that he was gay before the former presenter came out publicly.

Wootton, who also appeared on ITV’s Lorraine, said all he could “legally” write in 2019 while working for the newspaper was that a staff member moved from This Morning to Loose Women “despite a previous close friendship” with Schofield.

Rajan cited Wootton’s claims, saying: “A decision had been made for the newspaper to have a closer relationship with ITV and as part of that closer relationship – The Sun, was offered ringside seats, and an exclusive interview for this coming out announcement.

“As a result, obviously they, The Sun, wouldn’t run a story about the young runner. It was prompted by Phillip.”

Schofield called it “absolutely, categorically untrue”.

He also said: “I was advised when you (come out), obviously, this is going to be it’s going to be big news, you should really have an interview afterwards and it was suggested to me that The Sun would be the paper to go to.”

Schofield added: “There are a great many things that have been said that are categorically untrue.

“I have nothing against Dan and now I’ve actually brought myself down, to a far, far greater degree than (he) could ever have done.”

He added that he has to “talk about television in the past tense, which breaks my heart” and said the media has been “relentless”.

Referring to the Love Island host who took her own life in February 2020, he added: “This is how Caroline Flack felt, and it didn’t stop and I know I’ve done something wrong.”

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