Phillip Schofield defends This Morning against toxicity claims

He wrote: "Now I no longer work on This Morning I am free to say this. I hope you have noticed that it’s the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.

‘This Morning IS the best show to work on, with the best people. In all the years I worked there there was no toxicity. You can listen to those persistently loud voices if you like.

‘But the thousands of guests over the years, thousands of staff and crew, hundreds of presenters and contributors all know, it IS a family of wonderful, talented, kind, hard working people.’

Appearing on This Morning on Monday (29th May), presenter Dermot O'Leary said: "We love making this show for all of you."

Co-host Alison Hammond added: "We really do and that's exactly what we're gonna do - we're going to continue to do that."

ITV recently clarified that the show is not under review, saying: "As we said on the record earlier today, This Morning is not under review and there’s no plans for the show to be axed. This Morning will return on Monday."

Holly Willoughby also recently spoke out on Schofield's departure from ITV and admission of the affair.

Willoughby said in an Instagram Story post: "It's taken time to process yesterday's news. When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It's been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie. Holly."

Willoughby is expected to return to This Morning on Monday 5th June after a break for half term.

Schofield departed all of his current and future ITV roles on Friday (26th May) and told the Daily Mail in a statement: "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."

"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."

ITV subsequently released a statement on Saturday 27th May saying that "when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated", and that the broadcaster was "not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour".

Schofield has also parted ways with his management YMU with Mary Bekhait, the Group CEO of YMU Group, commenting on Friday: "Honesty and integrity are core values for YMU’s whole business, defining everything we do. Talent management is a relationship based entirely on trust.

"This week, we have learned important new information about our client Phillip Schofield. These facts contradicted what Phillip had previously told YMU, as well as the external advisors we had brought in to support him. As a result, on Thursday we agreed to part company with Phillip, with immediate effect."

RadioTimes.com has contacted ITV for further comment.

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