In his Sun interview he revealed he worked with the This Morning runner for a short period and had become friends.
However, he also admitted to when he first met his young lover.
Phil said: "We did first meet when he was 15, I visited the drama school (he attended).”
He also pointed out the chronology of events, and made it clear the pair were not in touch romantically or inappropriately after they first communicated when the boy was just 15.
He added that it was "a completely innocent backwards and forwards over a period of time about a job, about careers."
Phil said that his colleague was 20 years old when he first had any kind of sexual contact with him - which happened a total of five or six times.
Phillip confirmed that the first romantic encounter between him and the man took place in his ITV dressing room and was "consensual".
Although the former TV star said he was ashamed, he insisted he did not groom the runner.
Talking to The Sun and visibly shaking, Phillip said: “I did not, I did not (groom him).
He said “I’ve lost my best friend. I let her down (Holly). I let that entire show down. I let 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’.
“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.
“I had no feud with Holly. She is my TV sister. But quite rightly, when I am in the middle of a s**t show with bad press over something where I have done nothing wrong — in fact, I did everything right — it’s a witch hunt. And that strips that (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.