Phillip Schofield

[BaitandSwitch]

He's on R4 this morning, Saturday Live, talking about coming out and of course his new book. I think this is tasteless - he talks about the upset and trauma/impact on his family, yet he has the cheek to write a book about it and plug it on national radio! Not that he is short of a bob or two, with his TV shows and We buy any car.com (that offers as little as it can get away with for your car). It seems that little will get in the way of him exploiting any opportunity to gain publicity and make money - that is the view I have of him.

If no one cared, that would be ok. It's the meaningless vitriol that I don't get. Like, why start this thread if you don't care. Not caring would be fine.

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult

All the "coming out isn't a big deal these days" are fucking ridiculous.

It is a huge deal to some, and pretending otherwise is insulting to those who are struggling with the repercussions of coming out.

In a world where rights to equality are being stripped away every single day, if they were ever granted in the first place, it is still a massive deal.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Schofield on a personal level, please stop minimising coming out, your opinions are insulting and inaccurate.

It's not even about whether he found it hard or not to actually come out. That's subjective and we can suspect certain things but never know the truth of what he felt.

He could have divorced his wife though. Let her be free and then come out. If the news paper was going to break the story anyway - and often they can hold back if there's a sweetener (he only talks to them when he does it for example) - he could have denied massively and made the paper look like whit for trying to penalise someone got bring gay etc. There are loads of ways this could have been played where it wasn't all - and only - about his experience.

That's the issue related to him coming out.

As for me, I was surprised to hear he even had a wife. I'd always (since I was a teen, 20 years ago) thought he was gay. So the whole coming out issue for me was about telling us all he'd married some poor woman and was now publicly humiliating her (she'd never been truly wanted or loved, she was only good enough to be his beard - his always second best, if that).

I never commented on his personal coming out situation.

I am saying that the people on this thread downplaying how awful it can be, and even dismissing how rough it would have been to do so in the 80s because their particular circle was tolerant, are minimising, what can certainly be, a very scary and dangerous and damaging situation.

People do still care, they are still prejudice, kids do get kicked out, there is discrimination, and it is bloody hard for a huge percentage of people to do this, even now.

Just looked at some statistics.

For people over 60, the average age of coming out was 37.
People in 30s = 21
18-24 year old = 17.

This shows that people, on average, are coming out at a lot younger age, so people are more accepting of it than in the past.

Nothing to do with PS, but a statistics question How were those statistics worked out?

If you ask 18-24 year olds who are already out, by definition they will have come out younger than 24, but not those who are yet to come out.
If you ask people over 60, by definition you will pick up those who came out at 59.

I feel that people will come out on average younger these days, but I'm not sure the stats there are correct?

He is desperate to remain relevant and in doing so has hung his wife out to dry.

That's quite the trend for narcissists.

@WinterIsGone

Nothing to do with PS, but a statistics question How were those statistics worked out?

If you ask 18-24 year olds who are already out, by definition they will have come out younger than 24, but not those who are yet to come out.
If you ask people over 60, by definition you will pick up those who came out at 59.

I feel that people will come out on average younger these days, but I'm not sure the stats there are correct?

I’ll rephrase the statistics.

People born around 2000 onwards - people come out around 17 (evident amongst my teen cohort).

People born around 1970-80 - people didn’t come out until early - mid 20s

People born 50s-60s - people didn’t come out until mid 30s

It’s quite common nowadays to hear of people who have been married for over twenty years to split up because one of their partners realises they are gay or lesbian. Many years ago, people didn’t almost realise it was an option. The only people on tv were really camp people such as John Inman, so if you didn’t fit into this stereotype, you may not have realised you were gay. There’s more ‘straight’-looking gay people around nowadays.

Incidently, watched The Cube last night, and actually thought PS was alright on that, although I did think he looked a bit thin.

I know lots of people who came out as teens in the mid 80s.

I know lots of people who came out as teens in the mid 80s.
So do I. In the 80s, it was definitely an option around London.

I don't think you can get comparable statistics until those people who are teenagers now are in their 60s themselves. There must be a fair few who don't come out now, and that can't be quantified yet.

listened to him on Saturday live, the one question I wanted him asked: so when did you realise you were gay? Was studiously avoided.
I can't stand the self congratulatory crap when he, more than likely, mislead his wife and strung her along for years. He did say on the program how much he loved her, but he doesn't appear to have shown her any respect.

He's horribly self absorbed. I feel sorry for his wife, she wasted the best decades of her life in a fraudulent marriage and now everybody knows it. I don't know how anybody could trust again after such a deception.

I also hate how men who do this to women are declared "brave" and their victimised wives are dismissed and aren't allowed to express their devastation at learning it was all a fraud.

he, more than likely, mislead his wife and strung her along for years.

I think she knew. Their marriage was an arrangement imo.

@Thismustbelove

he, more than likely, mislead his wife and strung her along for years.

I think she knew. Their marriage was an arrangement imo.

This is my opinion too. My sister lived in Pinner back in the nineties and knew he was gay and she had no relationship whatsoever with him, just associated with the same circles. I can't see how Steph wouldn't know tbh. That's not to say Schofield hasn't treated her terribly. He used her when she probably was madly in love with him. And I bet even if she wants to talk about it in the future, she will be silenced at every turn.

And I bet even if she wants to talk about it in the future, she will be silenced at every turn.

Absolutely.
She won’t talk because of the hurt it would bring their daughters. And I presume she received a hefty financial compensation for keeping quiet.

He seems to think he's some kind of national treasure but he's just a self serving C list tv and webuyanycar.com advert presenter

@TeatimeAtCloppa how can someone who’s gay have sex with a woman?

[quote Georgeoftheinternet]@TeatimeAtCloppa how can someone who’s gay have sex with a woman?[/quote]

George, men have sex with animals, men, lampposts, poultry...are you serious?

This is just an attempt to burry the bad press and reputation he's garnered for himself and manage his profile.

@RoomontheDressingGownofBroom

He seems to think he's some kind of national treasure but he's just a self serving C list tv and webuyanycar.com advert presenter

😆😆😆

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but I didnt get how he was so "brave", for doing the coming out chat. It's not 1980 there are several high profile tv presenters that are openly gay (Graham Norton, Rylan, Alan Carr, Paul O Grady, Stephen Fry etc)

@Exhausteddog

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but I didnt get how he was so "brave", for doing the coming out chat. It's not 1980 there are several high profile tv presenters that are openly gay (Graham Norton, Rylan, Alan Carr, Paul O Grady, Stephen Fry etc)

He was pronounced “brave” because that’s how the crisis PR team handling the situation decided to repackage the story and draw the eye away from what had really happened. 😉