It’s a Schofield question - don’t click if you’re fed up with it!

[Schofe99]

I know there are lots of other threads. I haven’t found anyone asking/thinking what I am.

I watched the interview. The way he softened when mentioning the young man and emphasised several times that he’s the one he’s most concerned about.

Was it just me thinking WHAT ABOUT YOUR WIFE??? When Amol asked why it was wrong/what he regretted, I assumed he’d say “well, mainly I was unfaithful to my wife. That was wrong. Im so sorry about that.”

And when he was asked about other gay experiences/relationships he shut that down. Which left me thinking, again, WHAT ABOUT BEING UNFAITHFUL TO YOUR WIFE!!!

He’s talked about “us four” before and mentioned it again in the interview. But it’s not ok for him to have all the cosiness and support of a family unit when he’s being unfaithful, surely?

So my AIBU is am I the only one who is seeing this mainly through the eyes of his wife who is watching her husbands infidelity playing out in public? Maybe they’re not sexually intimate and haven’t been for years. But they’re clearly emotionally intimate, spend a lot of time together etc. How UTTERLY GRIM if she didn’t know that her husband was shagging young men. (I really don’t think she did know - I believe him when he says he lied to her).

With his wife - if you decide to remain married to a gay man, then you are choosing to be married to a gay man. Granted, she didn't know he was grooming this lad, but would it really have been much different for her if he'd been meeting any 20 year old for sex? Or any other man for sex? Or did she really think he'd chosen a celibate life? She's lying in the bed she made for herself, and I suspect she knew exactly what she was getting when she chose to keep on getting it.

They are probably great friends, and I'm not convinced she will see this as reason enough to change the arrangement.

There is something massive going on, it has been for years and involves actors, journalists, politicians and others covering up for one another but nobody will ever fully acknowledge it. It is almost too big to grapple with at this stage. However, they will efficiently chuck the bad apples into the compost bin before it blights the whole tree when it is actually the whole tree that needs to be felled.

I think you’re right.

He can hardly complain about the media attention when he keeps fuelling the flames with statements and interviews! Nobody to blame but himself.

There is so much more to this story than just a narcissist having an affair with a much younger colleague. You don’t get dropped by your agent and sacked from your job just for having an affair, even if that person was a lot younger. Remember Schofield’s agent also represent Ant and Dec, and stood by Ant even when he got done for drink driving.

This ⬆

I don't believe he even cares about his lover.

The whole interview was damage limitation and an attempt to take control of the narrative - just an act - and a rather ham act at that.

He isn't repentant, or chastened, or ashamed, or sorry in any way, shape or form - he's angry and resentful and awash with self-pity. I hope he never disgraces our screens again.

This. Now he has people starting to turn and feel sorry for him. He brought it on himself, he has trampled people to get where he was, he has treated people like utter shit.

Ok. So lots of you have said his wife must have known/been ok with him having sex with men. So why is this man different? Is it the grooming/age? Or maybe she really didn’t think he was unfaithful? Or was PS not truthful when he alluded to his wife being unhappy about the MM revelation?

I think that the people who feel betrayed around him must have witnessed him treating MMc like a 'youngster' well after the affair began. Affection and mentorship transformed into a sexual relationship and the established camaraderie then used as a coverup for it. They start to read into the friendliness, matey-ness and see that the deceit happened right under their eyes but they never knew. That is regardless of whether or not the accept it as grooming.

Presumably he will have been paid handsomley for the BBC interview, a last ditch attempt to make some money, otherwise surely better just to keep quiet?

He's made an entire career out of showing "sincere" interest in people he couldn't care less about so it's hardly surprising he made a decent attempt at this one.

I’m old enough to remember that too.

the judges comments specifically referred to MA as being “fragrant” and tome the judge seemed to be making a point about why would Jeffrey used prostitutes when he had a fragrant wife at home.

If that’s true then I’m glad I don’t have a TV License.

I remember very early in my career being given the advice "never make a decision you couldn't defend". I.e. find a job for a youngster you want to sleep with perhaps?

Then later, relationship advice that "if something needs to be secret it's harmful".

Unfortunately PS and other like him are allowed to believe they're untouchable, so normal rules don't apply.

Agreed. Watched the interview and was all very much about him. He was v careful to say all the righ things that no blame is with M etc. As if anyone is blaming him anyway. I just think it's lie upon lie upon lie.

I don't really know how these things work, but surely all the networks would have been offering ££££ for that interview?

I don't think Amol was comfortable with asking more searching questions. He was a bit of a soft touch.

He’s so false isn’t he. He doesn’t get it or is choosing not to get it.
How can these fakes who are found out keep showing their face. He can’t let it go can he. He is a narcissist and so mush Holly W be. She needs to go!!!

I am not arguing or condoning I am stating a fact.
"Beards" exist. Some people are very happy with the arrangement whether you find it palatable or not. Just as there are "twinks" who chase after "bears" and happily married men that fuck rent boys.
I'm not condoning any of it.
But in my world, after 40 years of being surrounded by a lot of gay men some of whom were escorts, this is a reality.
The heterosexual world really hasn't got a clue.
And yes married men, catholic priests, very high profile stars - my gay friends have had them

But that is the point isn't it. The heterosexual* *world really doesn't have a clue. So all the gay MEN: the twinks, the bears, the priests, the married men you've met, all happily fucking away. While the 'beards' that THEY have created, are most likely at home not fucking at all. Have you met the wives? Do you really genuinely believe that this is a 'happy' choice that ANY woman would make? Or is it more likely that in her heterosexual naivety she genuinely doesn't have a clue, or maybe does know but has had to find a way to live with it for any number of reasons?

Some thoughts in no particular order, though they do seem vaguely linked

PS has the dead eyes of a shark and always has. He's permanently weighing up which path is most beneficial to him. Probably a combo of narcissism and the need to be permanently on guard against self-revelation (usually go together).

I can well believe that he is an ephebophile - he has always had a weird boyish look/manner himself. Men who are attracted to boys are often arrested at that same developmental stage themselves. Plus, narcissism.

He has always had an absolute sexlessness about him. I can imagine that he is asexual - see above re developmental stages - and that the point of these encounters was primarily about fulfilling a fantasy of mutual 'boyishness'. (this does not absolve him in the slightest).

That his wife occupied/was forced into a maternal position in their relationship, and that there is therefore no need in either of their eyes for a divorce. They are family, after all. I imagine an older sibling-style relationship with his poor daughters (whom he's now told are responsible for keeping him alive, JFC.)

More as it comes in 😂

If you watch his 25th Anniversary Surprise, filmed in 2007:

At the end (skip to 12:14) when they are wrapping up and and he says "who'd have thought I'd have spent it here with the people I love the most", watch his wife's facial expression!

That was more than 15 years ago! I suspect she knew...

The Sun claimed he wasn't paid for that interview. I have no idea about the BBC. I still think The Sun have a big old sack of evidence that he doesn't want to come out so they are calling the shots for him.

Ha wow! Yes that tells its own story

That’s hilarious 🤣. And his obviously insincere sentiment “who'd have thought I'd have spent it here with the people I love the most" that leads to her expression makes it even more hilarious.

The fact that Hancock broke lockdown rules was public business. He expected universal adherence to a uniquely draconian involuntary curfew, whilst failing to abide by those rules himself. The rest was his own private business. An extra-marital affair is rarely a sacking offence these days as it (usually) doesn't affect how they perform in the workplace.

The issue with figures like Angus Deayton (remember him?) and now Schofield is that when your news titillation programme becomes the news in itself, your position becomes untenable. As events unfold, this will possibly also become the case with one or more of the co-presenters, if not the programme itself ('Have I Got News for You' did survive, but it was a lot wittier, more topical, less banal and an all-round better programme). The female presenter doesn't strike me as all that, and it sticks in the craw that a woman (yet again) is being made culpable for the actions of a man, but ITV may well decide her position is consistent with the above.

The more important issue here is the alleged abuse of power and potential grooming. If ITV did indeed rugsweep this, then it puts them in an invidious position post-Operation Yewtree. Broadcasters simply cannot be seen to be protecting employees who groom staff. But if there's a serious question of it, then it needs investigating by the appropriate bodies. In the past, people have been far too keen to defend that sort of behaviour (cf. the married school teacher who ran away with a 15-YO-kid he'd known since she was barely pubescent, with SM loudly proclaiming 'they just fell in lurrrrrrrve'). It is right to confront this head-on when it happens. The safeguarding risks are otherwise too great.

Where to draw the line? I'm honestly not sure. But the continued media persecution of Schofield has gone way beyond uncomfortable to witness. His behaviour, the interview etc., might be ill-advised, and people will likely see through it, but on the basis of what is currently known for certain the campaign against him has gone much too far. If necessary it needs handing onto the authorities, but MSM/SM really needs to call the bloodhounds off.

I wonder anew what Meghan Markle had to put up with. No wonder she scarpered. In her position, so would I.

She could be thinking "blimey" for any number of reasons. She knew he couldn't stand any of them. That's a kick in the teeth for your mum (and bother), unless they were there? Daughters?

True

Plus the fact that the camera honed in on her at that particular expression of hers is hilarious too - deliberate or serendipity?