01 June 2023 , 21:40
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Phillip Schofield has revealed he isn't speaking to his former This Morning co-star and best friend Holly Willoughby.
The pair worked together on the ITV show for 14 years and became close friends on and off set.
Yet the presenter has now said the pair have broken all contact, following his brother's imprisonment.
Phillip, 61, has now apologised to Holly for lying about his affair with a young runner and for tainting her image.
He says he has lost his "best friend" and "let her down".
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The former This Morning star also acknowledged he "let that entire show down" and the "viewers down".
“Holly did not know (about the romance). And she was one of the first texts that I sent, to say, ‘I am so, so sorry that I lied to you’.
Phillip has revealed he isn't speaking to Holly (ITV)“She didn’t reply and I understand why she didn’t reply, as well. So yeah. If anyone is in any way linking Holly to this; that is absolutely, wholly untrue," he told The Sun.
He also says he hasn't had a feud with Holly, but the "witch hunt" has since stripped their friendship away.
“Quite rightly, she is going to take a step back and think, ‘I have to step back from this’, and I understand that completely," he added.
Last month it was reported there was a rumoured feud between the co-stars after they were said to have been "barely speaking" off camera.
While Phillip's brother Timothy was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy.
Phillip presented his final episode of This Morning on Thursday, May 18, with ITV confirming his immediate exit just two days later.
In a shocking turn-of-events, Phillip subsequently parted ways from ITV and his management company after admitting to having an affair with a younger colleague.
Phil has issued an apology to his former co-star Holly (S Meddle/ITV/REX)He said: "The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning."
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"I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife...," he said in a statement released to the Daily Mail.
He continued: “I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me.
“I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it.”
He has since claimed he did "not groom" the younger colleague at This Morning that he had an affair with.
The former ITV presenter has spoke out in a bid to address rumours and says he "didn't lie to protect my career" but to protect the man he had an affair with.