02 June 2023 , 11:49
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Phillip Schofield's latest set of emotionally-charged interviews has left his fans, friends, former colleagues and biggest critics completely shocked, with Alison Hammond breaking down in tears live on This Morning over some of his admissions.
It comes just a week after Phil finally admitted to having an affair with a younger male colleague, sparking a series of bombshell accusations of a toxic work environment at ITV and an abuse of power in the workplace.
The former ITV star - who worked on This Morning for 21 years before stepping down last month amid initial rumours of a feud with Holly Willoughby - hit back at the toxic claims on his Instagram.
In response, a furious Eamonn Holmes took part in a sit-down chat with GB News' Dan Wootton in which he made a number of shocking claims.
Phillip has now hit back again at Eamonn's comments, but his gestures when speaking about the affair, Holly Willoughby and his This Morning axe were more telling of how he was truly feeling, as body language expert Judi James tells us...
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Phillip Schofield opened up about the affair in a series of filmed interviews (Pixel8000)This interview shows Schofield in several emotional states, some of them extreme, although his overall go-to pose seems designed to suggest an outer sense of calm.
The cues of inner distress that leak from him come from his shaking, fluttering hands that seem to massage a small vape that he holds in a self-comfort ritual. There are at least two moments when he sounds and looks close to tears, but others when he is precise and emphatic.
His emotional vulnerability is also bared several times, once right at the start, when he is asked if he is ‘feeling strong enough to do this?’ His reply ‘I have to’ gives no confidence that he does, neither does his weak vocal tone, head shake and sad eye expression at that point.
Even the question ‘How are you?’ causes a long pause with micro head nods and a faintly ironic ‘smile’ before he says ‘You come to a point where you just think how much are you supposed to take’.
There are moments of strong emphasis. He speaks about ‘My statement’, miming it in the air with a finger to show a list, and the statement ‘We were mates’ comes with a hand thrown up dismissively and a head shake at any suggestion otherwise.
He uses a non-negotiable hand-chop gesture when he insists the young man was ‘Given the job on his own merits’ and he uses eye contact with raised brows to endorse this.
Asked if he told Holly he is equally emphatic. His back straightens in what looks like shock and he even rises up in his seat. ‘No! God no’ is his shocked-looking reply.
It is Holly and This Morning that makes him look and sound tearful. He says he misses it ‘deeply’, throwing his head back with a long pause suggesting he is struggling with tears.
When he says ‘It was consensual’ he uses a precision gesture for added emphasis.
There are times of distress and/or discomfort. When asked ‘What do you feel you did wrong?’ there is a pause of nearly seven seconds as he shakes his head as many times, using a mouth clamp. His eye-dart suggests evaluation before he says ‘I kissed someone in the workplace’.
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The mention of rumours like an injunction or press rumours cause signals of open distress, like a wince and a nose rubbing cut-off ritual and an almost complete cut-off, placing his steepled hands up over his face, massaging the bridge of his nose.