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Original poster

Sorry, another Philip Schofield one...

999 replies

UnaCorda · 08/02/2020 20:20

I really couldn't care less about Philip Schofield's sexuality (or anyone else's) and good for him for finally being true to himself. But what makes me quite cross is all this talk of honesty and bravery, and the self-indulgent, tortured confessional in front of the nation when really it's of no importance to anyone who doesn't know him personally.

In the clip of his chat with Holly he asks repeatedly, "When is the right time?" In my opinion, the right time is before you get married to someone who believes you are straight. It's not brave, or honest, to make someone unwittingly provide you with the benefits of a heterosexual relationship, including children, so you can be viewed by the public as a "respectable family man". It's actually rather selfish.

I had a brief relationship with someone who I later discovered was gay. He didn't even have the balls to tell me directly, and it seriously screwed me up for a long time. I can't imagine what it must be like to find out your husband of 27 years is homosexual.

I'm not gay, so perhaps I am being unreasonable as I don't know what it is like to come out to friends and family (although I imagine it is easier now than it was thirty years ago) and I don't know whether PS really believed that he was in love with his wife when they got married. But I do think that leaving a duplicitous life which affects other people is not a kind or honourable thing to do and I feel very sorry for his wife and daughters who I think really have been brave.

OP posts:
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LisBethSalander07 · 09/02/2020 16:28

I think everyone knew there was far more to this than met the eye.

ITV will cover his back though.

lolawasashowgirl · 09/02/2020 16:28

You can't name him

emilybrontescorsett · 09/02/2020 16:28

Winston follow the Twitter link on page 14.

mamasholiday · 09/02/2020 16:30

@lola why can't we name him? We're not subject to any super injunction?

emilybrontescorsett · 09/02/2020 16:30

I don't care if someone is gay, bi, straight or what ever but this has made me bloody incensed.
How awful for Steph and her kids to see what that twat has been allegedly up to.

mamasholiday · 09/02/2020 16:39

I expect the wife entered the marriage by way of agreement @emily. It is pretty common in the entertainment world to have an arranged sham marriage believe it or not. The idea that's she's only just been told and is being really supportive is just a PR lie they are spinning to generate sympathy for PS. This is not a sudden realisation on his part. He's had to speak before he was outed. He has a PR machine behind him though and thoroughly embedded at ITV, where they have tight relationships with the tabloid press- hence his Sun exclusive.

SirChing · 09/02/2020 16:47

@bee222 And maybe some of us do know but just disagree with the way that PS has conducted himself.

Wereallsquare · 09/02/2020 16:48

The irony:

SirChing · 09/02/2020 16:52

@bee222 also, I don't think it's so much that coming out isn't brave in general, but more that PS has displayed far more duplicitous, selfish behaviour, for years, than the 20 mins of bravery it took to sit on the TM sofa and have Holly read a statement that reportedly Martin Frizzell, the producer, wrote.

emilybrontescorsett · 09/02/2020 17:01

Once again, I don't care if someone is gay, straight, asexual or whatever. But there are very strong rumours about what PS has done and like I said if true I will not watch anything with him in. Christ if it was my child I would want to kick his teeth down his and throat.
Don't defend him by saying his wife knew before she married him that he would be exploiting young people and having sex with boys/men younger than their own children.

Anjo2011 · 09/02/2020 17:09

There is so much more of this story to be reported, it will run for weeks, it appears there is much more to the ‘reveal’ than we were led to believe. I think it’s going one way only ...and that is badly. I don’t think his this morning presenting partner will come out smelling of roses either. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.

motherheroic · 09/02/2020 17:15

The people insisting that no one cares about people being gay because it's 2020 are delusional. People are still getting outed without permission, thrown out, assaulted, arrested etc. But yeah, 'no one cares'.

It's amazing the things we can talk ourselves into by telling ourselves 'things will improve' or 'you'll learn to like it soon'.

But if the affair rumours are true, he is absolutely a coward.

millimollimandi · 09/02/2020 17:17

Thank god for this post! I was beginning to think I was the only person who thought like this - never had an opinion either way about him tbh but now I have zero respect because whilst he is being lauded his poor wife has spent her entire life in a lie. I would want to kill him, not understand him. It was bad enough before but now he has admitted he knew on his wedding day - sorry that makes him an arse of the first order.

GrimDamnFanjo · 09/02/2020 17:27

The whole announcement appears to be a bloody shambles.
If I were managing this I'd be very cross as it appears Pip has not been truthful.
Did they ask him if he'd had relationships with men before/during his marriage?
Or is there anything in his past that could cause him issues if he came out?

On Friday everyone was scratching their heads about the timing. Within hours rumours surfaced of a potential outing.

The countering has begun- I've already read that Philip has offered support to a confused runner, who I'm sure we will read next week got hold of the wrong end of the stick/became a stalker/emotionally unstable etc and was trying to blackmail him. This being a man who was having difficulties coming to terms with his own sexuality according to his statement...

He will be hoping that itv have fixed it so there'll be no further coverage so it can all. Die down. If anyone breaks cover that will be it.

The narrative has already changed from his first statement. He is coming across not as a brave man facing up to his true self for the first time but as a liar and a cheat.

SirChing · 09/02/2020 17:32

@Anjo2011 can you say more about that? What sort of stuff would make HW look bad?

BeyondReasonablyDoubtsLots · 09/02/2020 17:36

Well if a random someone were found to be screwing a much younger male - that their wife didn't know about, but she did - I doubt that would reflect well on her either

Whether that's the best scenario of supporting an adulterer, or the worst of supporting a predator.

GrimDamnFanjo · 09/02/2020 17:36

And say even if the relationship rumours are untrue then he would have been better off owning the lot.
"Yes I'm gay/bi. Have had relationships with men . Loved my wife, wanted a family. Have found it too hard to pretend to be straight, wife is heartbroken, I'm truly sorry. I was going to be outed. I'm only human I've made massive personal mistakes here..."

Something like that would have been a hell of a lot more believable than his starting point.

Greenpop21 · 09/02/2020 17:37

Are they due to present the show tomorrow ?

The80sweregreat · 09/02/2020 17:41

It is a shambles and people on twitter seem in 'the know. ' Even if it's all false and speculation and evil meddling , mud tends to stick. This could all backfire immensely for a lot of the people involved. No wonder his wife is keeping quite. ( twitter is horrible)

The80sweregreat · 09/02/2020 17:43

They are presenting Dancing on Ice tonight as usual. As usual I'll be watching bbc!

Anjo2011 · 09/02/2020 17:44

@SirChing as others have said, it appears presenting partner has known for a while, if the rumour mill is true ...and remember it’s not been confirmed by said individual, but I guess it will eventually...and she was privy to what was going on and has come out in solidarity with PS how does that make her look, the shiny, perfect, whiter than white golden girl of daytime tv.

Dontsweatthelittlestuff · 09/02/2020 17:58

Of course they all knew.
PS followed the runner on twitter since he was 15 . Why? If he was just some random member of a theatre group he had met in passing. 51 year old men don’t routinely follow unrelated children on twitter.
Then at 18 PS turns up at the runner birthday party and he begins working for itv on PS shows. He neither had the experience or family connections to get him these jobs so how did he manage it?
How many runners are given free access to both PS and HW to do a showreel so why was he singled out?

The whole thing stinks worse that a 3 day old bag of prawns and whilst itv can close ranks and protect their main earners with super injunctions and deals with the press they don’t have the same control of twitter and other such sites.

SpanishFly · 09/02/2020 18:04

Rumours of toxic atmosphere at TM.
The runner left TM in December.
Runner moved to Loose Women, where Ruth is high up.
Ruth put in a complaint re PS at TM.

SirChing · 09/02/2020 18:06

@Anjo2011 That's true. Maybe part of a 'if PS is going down then he is taking HW with him and that also takes her husband down too'. Which gives ITV even more of a vested interest in protecting PS.

Ugh, what a tangled web we weave......

Winstonwolfe · 09/02/2020 18:11

I hope the whole truth comes out. It's been painful to watch all the fawning on social media the last few days.