Philip Schofield: As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother."

[DancingWithMashedPotato]

Philip Schofield's brother had now been convicted of sexual abuse with a young boy over a 3 yr period. Horrendous crime. Philip Schofield has now stated "As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother.""

Now, it's completely up to Philip how he responds to his brother in what must be a v v stressful time. I cast no judgement whatsoever, and his life in the public eye adds so many new dimensions for him that must be hard to handle.

However, his comments about no longer having a brother really cut deep and made me wonder how I'd react

I adore my siblings and I think (though obviously things might be different if it actually happened) that I couldn't bring myself to disown or abandon my brother's no matter what they did. I can imagine some very limited events which might lead to me not speaking to them for a bit, perhaps a v long time. But I think by and large, no matter what they did, however bad, while there are some things I couldn't forgive and maybe could never understand, I don't think I could disown them. AIBU?

What are your views? Are there some things you absolutely would disown your family for? Are there some generally agreed limits for what a person can tolerate from a family member before they are disowned. Is child abuse the line? Murder?

Well if my daughter didn't want me to ever see my son again, then I imagine I never would see him again. However, he would always be my son. I don't think you can just cut off that bond. I wouldn't disown him or say I never had a son. And, if my daughter ever said I could see him again, I probably would. But I don't know. I really don't know. I imagine this would be a bloody hard situation and I've no idea how I'd react if it actually happened. To me, I'd have failed both of them massively for this to have happened. Massively. And I'd need to bare some responsibility for that.

people will see you visiting as supporting them in what they did
**
Maybe they would see it that way. That's up to them. I can't live my life by what others think of me. If people make incorrect assumptions, thats their problem.

On this thread, some people have assumed that by not disowning a child/sibling, it would mean I'm condoning their actions. But I'd never ever condone a serious crime or not see it as horrendous and deplorable. But I can't control what others think, and if they think that I'm condoning something, well that's up to them.

Well if my daughter didn't want me to ever see my son again, then I imagine I never would see him again. However, he would always be my son. I don't think you can just cut off that bond. I wouldn't disown him or say I never had a son. And, if my daughter ever said I could see him again, I probably would.

If my brother had sexually assaulted me and I had to ask my mum to never see him again rather than her actively choosing not to, I would cut her off for my own mental wellbeing. You'd be putting the responsibility onto her for you cutting contact.

Imagine if a sibling sexually assaulted you and your parents continued to visit them in prison. It would make me sick to think they were capable of even looking him in the eye.

You may feel differently of course but that's how I feel.

Am I thinking PS’s brother told him but that PS didn’t take it straight to the police?

or did the police already know?

either way from that second on / I’d be done

I understand your perspective. I expect many people don't disagree with you. I guess we are all different.

It's not about my daughter having to ask. If that's what I knew she wanted, I likely wouldn't see my son again. She wouldn't necessarily have to vocalise it. But I would have already failed them both, in my opinion, for this to have even happened.

Abuse within families doesn't just happen randomly in a vacuum. So much else would be happening in such a family, so many other dynamics etc.. it's unlikely the parents in such a case would have been adequately protecting and raising either child. After such an event I would imagine all the relationships would b very complex, as likely they were before.

In the case of PS, given PS's own past behaviour, and that of his brother, I expect there has been some shared trauma and that the family dynamics have already long been very dysfunctional.

Pot , meet kettle.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-65167274
Published yesterday.

How convenient that the court case happened over the Easter hols. Plenty of time for trying to get the public to forget then he'll be back on the sofa,Holly fawning over kind brave Philip. Urgh!! 😡😡😡

I have a friend whose brother abused her - he was 12 and she was 6. No court case and parents begged her not to when she was 12 and he was 18, he was sent away to university (!) and not allowed back in the holidays.

parents still have family stuff she is expected to attend. He is heavily supervised by them.

I don’t think I could do the same to my children - I would support the victim and cut the offender out of our lives. My friend has to have her brother around her own children, otherwise she has to go nc with the entire family. Eg Christmas etc

Shes been told it was dealt with by parents and won’t happen again. If she tells the police she risks losing all her family. It’s an awful situation.

she’s now in her 40s and her parents in their 70s. She is waiting for her parents to die first before she goes nc. She’s had trauma counselling for 5 years but her parents’s view is it happened 30 years ago and he’s had therapy and is cured.

I did find it in the end @Kerfuffler but only via google. You can't find it via their search function if you search for Schofield. It doesn't come up under Phillip Schofield. And it's not filed under entertainment or crime, it's under Bristol.

Tell me you're not burying a story without telling me.

Well if my daughter didn't want me to ever see my son again, then I imagine I never would see him again.

But it wouldn't be because you thought it would be the right thing to do?
Given the choice you'd still have him visit and expect your daughter to sit in the same room or worse have to leave while he's there, and her be ok with that?

An old friend of mine was abused by her brother. She has never told her family. She still endures family get togethers. And she has cut me out of her life; the one person she told.

It's been 'revealed' that Phillip Schofield is back on the sofa on 17 April. So nearly two weeks for the story to get buried and forgotten about.

He knew for some time and said and did nothing and let the abuse of a child carry on. Abandoning his brother doesnt quite cut it here.
He has reported relations with an underage boy himself which im sure the media will dig into now given this. - The apple never falls far from the tree.

I changed username for this as this information combined with other things I’ve posted in the past is pretty identifiable to me. I come from a town where a man “allegedly” assaulted 2 children and was released due to police incompetence.
The family threw him a party which most of the neighbours attended including their children and the local football coach and scout leader welcomed him back with open arms to continue volunteering with children of a similar age to those attacked. Some of those same people are today voicing their opinion in the comments of the local paper via Facebook that Schofield should have gone to the police and disowned his brother . It was one of the many reasons I left at 18 and never returned.
I find it interesting that Schofield wasn’t close with a younger brother who nevertheless felt comfortable with sharing his sexuality with him ( a few years before Schofield himself came out) and then shared his assault of a very young boy ( a year after Schofield’s “alleged” relationship with a boy he first met when the boy was still at school). Would he really share that with someone he hardly spoke to anymore?

He absolutely should not be back on our TV screen's especially knowing what his brother did and saying nothing

Every time we look at him we'll be reminded of the incident as will the family of the boy

Surely there must be some law where he is complicit by not reporting his brother

this

I don't even like Philip Schofield but I don't see why he should be punished for his brother's crime.

I find it interesting that Schofield wasn’t close with a younger brother who nevertheless felt comfortable with sharing his sexuality with him ( a few years before Schofield himself came out) and then shared his assault of a very young boy ( a year after Schofield’s “alleged” relationship with a boy he first met when the boy was still at school). Would he really share that with someone he hardly spoke to anymore?

Exactly. Why would his brother choose to share such bombshell personal private information with someone he didn’t class as close.

Think the public see through the lies.

I think it's more to do with PS turning a blind eye to his brother's abuse of a child when the brother supposedly told him. That obviously doesn't make him guilty of child abuse but he was complicit when he allegedly told his brother not to do it again.

I do agree that he is not responsible for his brother's crime. I think it is the gulf between his reaction to his brother's confession in 2021 and his statement today that has raised a few eyebrows.

"Phillip Schofield described in a written statement how his brother had phoned him in an agitated and upset state in September 2021, and Mr Schofield had invited him to drive to his home in London... Mr Schofield said in the statement: 'Then he said that he and (the boy) had time together and that last year they had watched porn ... and (masturbated)'"

"In a statement released by his lawyer after the guilty verdict, Phillip Schofield said: 'My overwhelming concern is and has always been for the wellbeing of the victim and his family. I hope that their privacy will now be respected.' He continued: 'If any crime had ever been confessed to me by my brother, I would have acted immediately to protect the victim and their family."

This seems to imply that he felt a 50+ year old man wanking to porn with a 16 year old boy did not require any action.

I notice he waited until his brother was found guilty to say this but didn't say it after his brother confided in him.

What!!!?? When did I ever say any of that!! What I would want is to go and see my son occasionally in prison. I absolutely would never in a million years expect a daughter who had been abused by a son, to be in the same room as them! Have them around the house! Crikey, there's a massive difference between not wanting to disown someone, and having them round for Sunday lunch. Blimey!

I would absolutely disown my brother for serious crimes that cause harm and distress to another innocent person eg murder, rape, child abuse, domestic violence. I wouldn't for things like theft, fraud, fighting in a bar etc.

My brother is a nice guy so hopefully not something I have to consider, but I would absolutely cut anyone out of my life who abused a child and I find it frightening that some people wouldn't to be honest.

But what "action" could be taken .

Whilst it's obviously vile as fuck, it isn't illegal for a 50 year old man and 16 year old boy to have sex so PS couldn't have reported it to the police as the police couldn't have done anything.