Puzzled - Philip Schofield

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

If you think they would allow a children's tv presenter to be openly gay in the 1980s you are deluded!

George Micheal was one of the biggest stars of the 1980s and beyond yet didnt come out until forced to in 1996

I suspect that this may be a public announcement but that it's not been a revaluation to Schofield's wife. I didn't even know he was married as she has kept a very low profile. Maybe it was a sort of arranged marriage where they both had something to gain from it?

I think if his wife was aware of his sexuality before they got married and they both had reasons this relationship worked for them for a time, then wonderful for the pair of them.

Who knows maybe she has met someone she wants to spend the rest of her life with and that's the reason for this.

However I think it's more likely she was deceived and has found about about this more recently. Which ofc would make him an awful shit. Either way I hope she has real life support

It's actually fairly common (well, not unheard of) for middle aged married men who have fathered children to come out as homosexual.

Perhaps it's because of the times and the prejudice that they grew up with when much younger? Perhaps it's the fear of disappointing or alienating family? Perhaps they really do fall in love with women but never feel truely happy?

Imagine feeling as if you had to suppress who you really were, for everyone else's sakes?

Perhaps his wife and daughters actually knew, but somehow the tabloids got hold of it and so he wanted to announce it himself?

I guess we'll never know.

I felt a bit queasy when I heard this on my tea break earlier! There has been a lot of squabbling at ITV recently and this puts philip up on the cross nicely.

I'm sure his wife has known he was gay for about 20 years, but still, it is a shitty thing to do, marry somebody straight and come out as gay in your fifties. That's her life too.

I'd assumed he was gay anyway. A bit shocked that he'd married a woman and fathered two children. Sorry and for them.

I think he's probably not a nice man I think that's probably true but many people in the media are as hard as nails.

Jay "If they all knew and were happy then no harm has been done."

well, it has been if they wanted to keep it private and were forced to share the info.

Why the big announcement? His poor wife. 27 years.

If they all knew and were happy then no harm has been done.

I don't think Andi Peters has publicly discussed his sexuality, no reason why he should I guess.

"Us straight wives are usually the last to know that our husbands are gay."

But there are exceptions. This is PS, after all, who was assumed to be gay since....well, since he was on TV for sure. I can see advantages to marriage to a gay man.

So it's possible it was all okay and now some wanker from the gutter press has shot a happy family to shit.

AutumnRose1 Highly unikely that they knew in my experience. Us straight wives are usually the last to know that our husbands are gay.
I do think he was under pressure of possibly being outed by a newspaper so made use of his programme to make a huge public song and dance about it and how supported his family is being.

Trust me behind closed doors they will be very conflicted. They don't need to be in the public eye, but now they are forced to be.

Oh leave him alone ffs.

Nobody knows, NOBODY, what goes on in a relationship.

I don't think it is at all homophobic to sympathise with his wife. No one held a gun to his head and forced him to get married. He chose to lie to his wife and have kids with her.

It's not even remotely homophobic to sympathise with his wife. It's basic human decency. It is very disturbing that she is being pressured to be 'supportive' when she may very well be feeling anything but supportive. It's particularly disturbing that the narrative of a man coming out later in life still makes use of a woman's emotional labour - she is expected to be 'supportive' even though she might well want to say she's got far better things to do.

However. We do not know when he realised he was gay. It is not fair to assume he has lied, deceived her, or tricked her, into marriage.

I assume the reason that he’s come out now is that a tabloid has some compromising photos / evidence and it was a case of “come out or we’ll publish them”.
Didn’t they do that to Will Young?

I think it seems he wishes he wasn't gay, but has denied it all his life and had reached breaking point. Yes, I feel so sorry for his wife but it's not an unheard of situation. In other cases they might have gay affairs or struggle so much they take their own lives. It sounds like he confided in his wife a long time ago so has not been deliberately deceitful.

PS is an arsehole. Complete attention seeking.

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

Some gay men can and do have sex with women. I should know I was married to one for thirty years and we had two children. For six years he was in a sexual relationship with another man.

It's got to the point where you can't call out a man for being a lying shitbag without it being phobic.

So true. It's the lies and deceit that as so destroying.

I think it's sad he's loved such a massive lie for so many years. It's damaging all around. He should be able to be who he wants to be though. I really feel for his poor wife though. To loose the man she married in this way must be tough.

I struggle to understand how people can do sexual things with something that they are not attracted too. I couldn't do things with a women as I am attracted to men. I would massively struggle to go near a women sexually. So I am shocked he managed to do that if he's not attracted to females.

He's not a bad guy though so hopefully he can find happiness and so can his wife. I was absolutely shocked. It was sad to see him sad!

I don't think it is at all homophobic to sympathise with his wife. No one held a gun to his head and forced him to get married. He chose to lie to his wife and have kids with her.

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.

I agree with this also though. I do get celebs hiding their sexuality in the 80s, and 90s to some degree. However, coming out in this day and age is not brave in the slightest. Infact, it seems that everyone is lgbt in some way, and you are quite odd if you are simply 'cishet'.

I do think it was incredibly brave to come out in earlier times though. And tbh, it seems the likes of football and stuff its still a rarity for someone to feel able to be out and proud. But bog standard 'celebs'..not really.

Interestingly, there is a bbc article, "Phillip Schofield announcement: How it feels when your partner comes out as gay"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51413187

On the other thread somebody mentioned they had posted this on the Trans Widows thread as there are parallels.

On the other thread some are saying the wife knew but chose to stay with him. We are back to that word of 'choice' again.

Women being kind?

Do we ever hear about famous women coming out as lesbians and the supportive husbands and children who stood by them?

Why not?

The amount of airtime this is getting is really starting to annoy me. The friends on FB all 'omg he is so brave, I cried' is getting worthy of rolling eyes emoticonc, shame theres not one on there.

On the other hand, the huge majority of my gay mates have either said nothing. Or said basically 'why all the fuss, noone cares these days' which tbh, I agree with. Though have been called homophobic once today for stating this of course. Which was immediately jumped on by a few lgb people and the virtue signaller was well and truly eaten alive, which was fun to watch

I haven't seen much discussion of his wife and kids at all. Besides one snidey comment about how 'the wife must have known and just married him for cash' Of course.