ITV issues new statement after Phillip Schofield ‘sacked’ speculation – latest

ITV issued a response this week to speculation that Phillip Schofield was “sacked” from his role as co-host on its popular daytime show This Morning.

Following claims by former This Morning host Eamonn Holmes, who now fronts a show for GB News, the broadcaster insisted that Schofield’s departure was a mutual agreement between him and ITV.

“Phillip Schofield’s decision to step down from This Morning was (as his statement made clear) a decision agreed between Phillip and ITV,” a spokesperson told The Independent.

The 61-year-old left following intense scrutiny over his relationship with co-host Holly Willoughby, amid rumours the pair had fallen out.

Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha has become the latest ITV star to discuss Phillip Schofield’s departure from This Morning.

Speaking on her podcast Coffee Moaning, the daytime TV star explained why many ITV stars hadn’t discussed the topic publicly.

“This story with Phillip and Holly is just huge, it’s just everywhere. There’s so much speculation and so much chat,” she said.

“I think everybody at ITV, like my colleagues… there is the constant question of why haven’t we said anything? Why are we not saying anything?”

She continued: “It is difficult, because I do have a rule…, and I think it’s a good one, that I don’t bad-mouth people that are colleagues. I think that’s what makes you a decent person or not.

“There are people who don’t stick to that rule and I believe that a certain person who is in the news at the moment didn’t stick to that so much with me a long while ago. I’m just going to leave that there.”

Rochelle Humes has paid tribute to Phillip Schofield following his departure from ITV’s This Morning.

“I’ve proudly been a part of the This Morning family for almost 10 years and over the last few, it has been an absolutely pleasure learning so much from you,” Humes wrote in an Instagram post on Monday (22 May).

“Thanks for all the lessons – you’re a fountain of love knowledge and laughter,” she added.

After a week of rumours of a rift between This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, it has been announced that Schofield will leave the show “with immediate effect”.

Below is a timeline of Schofield and Willoughby’s working relationship, and the ups and downs they have both endured along the way.

However, Holmes, who previously called the pair “actors”, has questioned Schofield’s wording. In the statement, he said: “ITV has decided the current situation can’t go on, and I want to do what I can to protect the show that I love.”

Holmes believes the presenter “was sacked”.

Clodagh McKenna has expressed her views about Phillip Schofield’s exit from The Morning.

“21 years of brightening up our mornings…. And I’ve been so lucky to be part of three of them. I’ll miss the morning hug, the twinkle in your eye that makes me giggle and your empathy,” she wrote on Instagram.

“You will be missed.”

After a week of rumours of a rift between This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, it has been announced that Schofield will leave the show “with immediate effect”.

Below is a timeline of Schofield and Willoughby’s working relationship, and the ups and downs they have both endured along the way.