Holly's statement

Whatever men do, a woman always ends up getting blamed

Bearing in mind I’m an anonymous forum user - and especially as this isn’t even my regular name as I forgot to switch back - how can you possibly have any idea about what I have and haven’t demanded??

I have been vocal about Boris in every possible way - and also Trump - I have been extremely outspoken about both. If you check my Twitter feed, as an example, you’ll find it’s full of tweets and retweets about Boris, Braverman, Priti Patel st al. They’re a despicable bunch and I still find it hard to believe that Boris lied so casually and no one really cared. I was - and remain - outraged at the conduct of the Tories.

And yet, I still cannot fathom why any of this means I shouldn’t have an opinion on Schofield and Holly Willoughby. What I said was that he should be investigated for potential grooming. And I also said that Holly was incredibly emeshed in his life. They bought holiday villas next to each other, she was his confidante. She either turned a blind eye or enabled him in behaviour that may or may not be illegal, but is certainly morally dubious. And for that reason I think she should also go.

ps - just for good measure, fuck Boris. Ok now?

A young man has been groomed and you’re upset that not enough people are being kind to a millionaire tv presenter.

Get your priorities in order FFS!

I dont understand the hatred against Holly. She shouldn't be punished for what Phil did.

Quite, and we don’t really know what she knew or if anything. Maybe she did know , but what could she have done? Report him to This Morning bosses? What if they knew and turned a blind eye?

What could Holly have done? Who knows maybe she did advise Phil that this was a bad idea. Maybe he didn’t listen. After all he’s a grown adult and about 20 years older than Holly..

Maybe she had enough of Phil’s personal life and his brothers horrible crimes, she decided to distance herself from him ?

I have no idea

I haven't said that anywhere in my post. Stop reading things into it that simply aren't there. And fuck off telling me what my priorities should be.

Or Holly did know as did ITV, and they all turned a blind eye until it came to the media.
Then closed ranks to save themselves.

If that’s the case then that’s appalling and just shows how horrible the entertainment industry is.

Did they come after him with pitchforks. Seriously I hope you are the proof that age gap relationships are just as likely to be good as any other and don't have to involve grooming.

Yes it does show the mob mentality.

Was anyone groomed? Was he 14? Is it odd to help someone you know get a job, I've done it several times for one of my kids or one of their friends. So waiting till he's of age is seedy, wow maybe we should all be looking to not wait so we aren't seedy. Of course it's a bit awkward as then it would be illegal.

For one shocking moment I thought Robert De Niro and Al Pacino had come out in a gay relationship, then my brain engaged. It was a weird moment though.

And you know that as fact, how?

At present, there is no wholesale proof that grooming - a serious offence which should never be minimized - has happened. If it has, then it needs investigating by the correct professional bodies. ITV should also come under fire - as did the BBC before them - for creating an environment where this kind of behaviour can continue unchecked. If they are protecting those who engage in it then it's very much a matter of public interest.

I'm not entirely sure how Willoughby is culpable, or for what she apparently thought Schofield owed her an explanation. Most people are not overly keen to divulge their extra-marital affairs, he's hardly alone in that respect. The fuss she's making about his 'lying' to her is disingenuous and transparently motivated by self-interest. He didn't owe her that information. I don't confide in colleagues - sometimes even friends - about my intimate relationships or in any way justify my private behaviour. That falls strictly under the heading of my own business.

As to whether Willoughby's a self-interested person or a 'bad' friend: that's irrelevant to her work. There may be another question: that of her being a shit presenter - and from the little I've seen she certainly looks like one - but it's just that. Another question.

A young man has been groomed and you’re upset that not enough people are being kind to a millionaire tv presenter. * Get your priorities in order FFS!*

At present though this is rumour, gossip and opinion. Not fact.
Whilst the rumour may become fact in time reskins to be known.

And as it stands she did not groom him.
She did not have an inappropriate relationship with the young man.

This isn't her fault.
It's the fault of her male colleague.

I find it terrifying. Okay so this is just the internet, but there have been past occasions in which the pixels were indeed pitchforks. A particular situation was the mistaking of a paediatrician for a paedophile, because the baying mob were too stupid and blinded by the 'get him' mentality to tell the difference.

It's reminiscent of the race row with Jade Goody. Yes, her behaviour wasn't pleasant, but the behaviour itself became vastly disproportionate to the huge, baying outcry ending in a woman hounded out of her home and she and her young children fearing for their lives. The bloodhounds also came after Christopher Jeffries, a totally innocent man who was wrongly implicated in the Joanna Yeats murder case. More recently, it was Meghan Markle. It's the modern-day equivalent of putting people in the stocks and pelting them with rotten tomatoes.

No one should overlook the seriousness of grooming or disagree that it can't be allowed to go on. But there are correct procedures and protocols for vetting this and, if necessary, bringing charges.

The mob mentality is truly scary (cf Diana, Goody, Jeffries, Caroline Flack). And seemingly the media, who stoke the flames and then egg it on, have learned nothing.

Are you talking about the teenage boy that Schofield had the affair with then discarded? Because it perfectly applies to him, too.

Yes me too! So patronising - as if we give one...

If PS was being honest and it really was just 5 or 6 sexual encounters over 4 years, then I can see others not really knowing what was going on. They may have seen flirty banter but the runner was working as Phils PA and so being at his house could be explained, and apparently both runner and PA denied more when asked. I don't think others could be ignorant of a 4 year relationship but they could be ignorant of a friends with very occasional benefits scenario.

Clearly the runner had more feelings involved but that doesn't actually mean it was a full on relationship. Lots of people fall for their FWB. So it isn't clear what others were or weren't aware of. I am guessing they could see it was inappropriate with poor boundaries (given age and positions) but if there was no evidence of more, not much they could do.

The runner is now 27. If he wants to say something publically, he can. Otherwise, hopefully this just all disappears and fades into the ether. PS has millions and was near retirement age anyways and has a very supportive family - so he can figure out next steps away from the TV industry.

The whole PS situation isn’t a legal matter but I’d imagine he somehow broke ITV’s code of conduct.
That’s probably why he had to leave. No one is saying he committed any criminal offences but he perhaps broke the terms of his employment?

I think this has been jumped on so much because he was disliked by a lot of people with the inference that he had clout and could get rid of fellow presenters. It was said he had it coming. I have no real opinion of either him or Holly but I think as a friend she has behaved disgracefully and the pair of them should be shown the door and let it slam on their way out

@Iwasafool
nope, they didn’t….if anyone other men praise him for it (that gets on my nerves) but it’s never seen as a negative thing from a male perspective. Women haven’t commented negatively about it either.

This is homophobia IMO. Women with young men are never lambasted either, look at lovely Barbara Windsor and the like

I do not think it is homophobia at all. I think this and the fiasco at the queens coffin are the icing on the cake for everyone he has crossed in the past and now it is all coming back on him. All she has done is watch him squirm which is not the action of a friend.
I did hear tell that he has comforted her many times when her husband has had affairs which is what he meant when he said he has always been there for her in his statement. She is deff not there for him is she?

It’s hardly homophobia! Infact on the contrary!

Do you remember when Phil came out in early 2020? He was publicly commended for being brave and for coming out. He was seen as some kind of hero.

Now imagine if he admitted then that he’d been having an affair with another woman. His career would have probably ended then. But it didn’t.

So with that in mind how is this homophonic?

Yes, despite what we think of Philip Schofield's actions (not much), she has been a bad friend.

Who does she think she's fooling saying she didn't know! I don't even watch the programme and read about it on here on threads over the last year or so. Did it really all pass her by.

Plausible.

And, I agree, as distasteful as everything has been, it is yet to be shown to be illegal.

HW has been clarted by the shitty stick. Perhaps unfairly.

Regardless of whether this is work face or private face though, her career and tv persona was seemingly based on her being the young woman/friend next door.

Seemingly the best friend of him.
The giggler at his jokes.
The comforter in his time of need.
The ally.

The person who had family holidays with him. (No matter private and public faces, why go on jollies with someone who isn’t really a friend?)

If nothing was legally wrong with his behaviour, then why could she not distance herself quickly enough?

Why has this friend, who spoke today of worrying over the well being of everyone involved, thrown her friend to the four winds?

This isn’t the behaviour of a long-standing friend next door.

And I think essentially that will be her downfall.

Not because of what he did.

But because she is trying to distance herself desperately from him. And the uncomfortable question is why?

Is it all about the lies? Or is it about the truth?