Puzzled - Philip Schofield

[howwillthispanout]

Sorry if this has been covered already but I’ve been offline all day - has there been any discussion re PS’s announcement today on this board? Especially in relation to wife and daughters

[Mumdiva99]

Pages and pages. Do a search on his name.

[howwillthispanout]

I did! Apologies though for starting new thread will look again

[Floatyboat]

What's the news re Phil Schofield. I know there were rumours of inappropriate behaviour a while back. Is it related?

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

@floatyboat No, he’s come out as gay.

[user14572856389]

Yes, pages and pages of homophobia

[picklesdragonisawelshdragon]

Is it homophobia to express concern about the wife and daughters of a very famous name who has announced he is gay?

[2Rebecca]

Why is he not bisexual if he has had sex with a woman for years and fathered children?

[FrogsFrogs]

I like all the posts saying it was impossible to come out in the 80s/90s if you were in public eye!

I mean homophobia is and always has been rife and extreme but that was not that long ago!

One person posted that homosexuality had only been legalised a few years earlier. I mean I suppose a few is subjective but still, 1967 to the mid 80s is a fair bit of time!

[Cwenthryth]

Have to confess I hadn’t realised he wasn’t gay, tbh. But I don’t think it’s homophobic to feel that it’s a shit way to treat your spouse to basically dump them publicly, announce to the world that the marriage was a sham, you’d basically duped them into being a beard, and then garner praise for how ‘brave’ you are to do all of this. It smacks of her just being a bit-part in his life story for him, doesn’t show her any (public) respect as a complete independent human whose life he has massively changed by doing this.

[FrogsFrogs]

Plenty of gay people can and do have het relationships for a variety of reasons.

Defining your own sexuality is fair enough eg we used to say men who had sex with men in HIV prevention as some men who had sex with men did not see themselves as gay or bi.

I mean the line is when you take the sex of the people out of it entirely so the words have no meaning but that's another 90000 threads that have already been done!

[Tombakersscarf]

Frogs posters saying that may not be English - it was not legalised until early 1980s in Scotland and NI.

[FrogsFrogs]

Philip Schofield was working for the BBC in London though!

Most people know the laws are England & Wales, Scotland, NI don't they?

I mean saying no wonder he did it, it was illegal only a few years before, as a statement, when it wasn't, seems a bit silly!

[FemiLANGul]

It's got to the point where you cant call out a man for being a lying shitbag without it being phobic.

[BaolFan]

Disliking someone because you find them irritating/overbearing/whatever is not homophobia. It's amazing how many people seem to think that criticising someone for something completely unrelated to their sexuality equates to a hate crime.

Perhaps Mr Schofield is a nice man, perhaps he is not - I have no strong feelings about him either way. But if he wasn't a nice man then he will still not be a nice man, who happens to be gay.

I feel very sorry for his wife. It must be difficult to discover that your husband of 27 years is gay.

[FrogsFrogs]

I think that there are reasons people lie but I do feel for his family.

Even if they all knew, for years, it would have made for a not great family dynamic. And if they didn't, even worse.

[FrogsFrogs]

I think he's probably not a nice man although I don't watch his progs.

He was good in broom cupboard but then I was quite young 😃

[HeIenaDove]

Im not a fan of Schofield but thats due to his attitudes towards people particuarly poorer people who have appeared on TM.

This months Cosmo has an article on homophobia today, I was reading my nieces copy last weekend. Interesting read. The article explored how/why homophobia is becoming more vicious again and mentioned how its likely that some of it is to do with the lurch to the right politically .

Pretty sure Phils politics are more to the right.


And there is the fact he posed for a selfie with a homophobic politician.

[wonderstuff]

There has been a dramatic change in attitudes towards homosexuality in the UK since the early 90s. It's hard to believe now but I do not doubt that in the 80s and 90s he felt under pressure to hide the fact he was gay. Section 28 wasn't repealed until the 2000s. I don't think you could have been an openly gay children's tv presenter in the 20th century.

[Sparklingbrook]

I saw and hid one thread, saw it again in trending then it was nearly full, so nothing to be puzzled about.

[FrogsFrogs]

Andi Peters did broom cupboard from 89, think he was always out wasn't he?

Anyway people do the things they do for whatever reason. I do feel for his family though

[DobbyTheHouseElk]

Andi Peters was always gay. Wasn’t he?

Anyway I’ve learnt from these threads that Michael Ball is straight and married and I more shocked by that tbh.

[Sparklingbrook]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3816458-philip-schofield

[HandsOffMyLangCleg]

I feel for his wife and children and make no apologies for caring about females.

I was surprised to see this as 'Breaking News' though.

[Bakedbrie]

How old is PS? Tbh with the bloody long hours, early starts and just generally getting ancient I’m impressed he has any libido as such with which to point towards a sexual orientation. I think I’m the same age and it’s all pretty dead below the naval. Hats off to Phil for having any life let alone a new chapter to open.
Tbh I was a bit taken aback about the big broadcasted announcement. V brave an all, but does anyone (other than his nearest and dearest) really give a toss which way he leans? I couldn’t care less.

[ElloBrian]

I hope his wife has an SHL and lots of support from friends.