12 March 2024 , 09:36
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Phillip Schofield was left heartbroken when his former pal Fern Britton "decided she didn't want to do This Morning any more".
The former ITV presenter, 61, "still misses her deeply" and has previously confessed to "trying to make things right" over the years, but understands the Celebrity Big Brother star has "moved on" from their friendship and admits that his "obsessive" nature may have caused their fallout.
Fern - who recently claimed she would leave the Celebrity Big Brother house should Schofield enter as a late arrival - presented This Morning from 1999 to 2009, and for seven of those years, she shared the stage with Schofield. However, their professional friendship ended bitterly when Fern left the show.
Since entering the Celebrity Big Brother house last week, Fern has touched upon her exit from the ITV daytime TV programme - and her strained relationship with her former co-host - but the bestselling author reportedly has even more to say before she leaves her time on the show comes to an end.
Phillip Schofield still misses Fern Britton 'deeply' (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)"She wants to show the public a different side to her - unscripted and unapologetic," a source close to Fern has told Best magazine. "She has a lot of stories to tell and she won't hold back when it comes to her. relationships with people like Phil. They don't speak any more so there are no bridges to burn as far as she is concerned."
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Writing in his memoir in 2020, Schofield reflected the state of his relationship with his former co-star, admitting his "obsessive" ways possibly contributed to their feud. "Years down the line, the fact that I had an eye on most things really pi**ed her off. By the start of 2009, the atmosphere in our make-up room was not as happy as it had been," he wrote.
Continuing in his autobiography Life's What You Make It, Schofield recalled how Fern told him to "stop meddling" as they spoke with a producer. "I knew the intense pressure she was under but I was stunned that she would lash out at me," the dad-of-two revealed. "I walked back into the make-up room and calmly said, 'Please don't do that to me again.' That was the point Fern decided she didn't want to do This Morning any more. At that moment, she'd had enough."
"When she announced that she was leaving, I was heartbroken," Schofield admitted. "Heartbroken that our friendship had inexplicably gone so sour, and heartbroken because I'd never had a presenting partnership like that before. I have tried over the years to make things right, but Fern has moved on, and understand that. I still miss her deeply."
Last week, Fern admitted she would quickly leave Celebrity Big Brother if Schofield entered the famous house. During Wednesday's episode of the ITV reality TV show, housemate Fern made her blunt statement during a frank chat with Gary Goldsmith - Kate Middleton's uncle.
Viewers saw Fern talk about her time on This Morning - and the recent dramatic collapse of Schofield's TV career. Schofield left This Morning in May last year as rumours of backstage rows with co-host Holly Willoughby, 42, began to overshadow the show. Days on from his This Morning exit, Schofield left ITV completely and admitted to an extramarital "unwise but not illegal" historic affair with a younger ITV runner.
Speaking inside the Celebrity Big Brother house, Goldsmith asked Fern if she knew anything about what happened between Schofield and the runner. Fern said: "Genuinely I haven't been there for 15 years. I got off the train and it's way over the horizon so I honestly don't know. Anything I do say would be supposition."
Fern also talked about her time on the ITV show and new hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard. "It was tricky at times," she said. "It is an institution that like the monarchy it rocks. I think Ben and Cat will do a great job. It's a new era." As Goldsmith suggested Schofield might enter the Celebrity Big Brother house, Fern declared: "Oh, well. That didn't happen yet. Maybe that will happen as a surprise? I might have to leave at that point."