Phillip Schofield says he will ‘die sorry’ for affair that ‘brought misery into innocent life’ of much younger lover

PHILLIP Schofield has said he will "die sorry" for his affair with a much younger lover while he worked on This Morning.

Schofield, 61, previously revealed he and the colleague became friends before they started engaging in an "on-off relationship".

The former TV star and national treasure has since lost everything following the bombshell revelation - which came after years of "deceit".

Schofield revealed all in a sit down with The Sun's Clemmie Moodie, where he admitted he will "die sorry" for the affair.

Schofield said: “I think my greatest apology must go to him.

"It has brought the greatest misery into his totally innocent life, his totally innocent family, his totally innocent friends.

"It has brought the greatest grief to them.

"I haven’t spoken to him since this s**t show kicked off, but when this was all beginning to get out of control, I paid for his lawyers to independently work on his behalf.

“I am deeply sorry and I apologise to him because I should have known better.

"I should have acted the way I have always acted. I should not have done it.

“I’m sorry. And I will forever be sorry. I will die sorry. I am so deeply mortified.”

Addressing the elephant in the room, Phil - a behemoth of daytime television - stressed: “I did not, I did not (groom him).

He added: “There are accusations of all sorts of things. It never came across that way (an abuse of power) because we’d become mates. I don’t know about that.

“But of course I understand that there will be a massive judgment, but bearing in mind, I have never exercised that anywhere else.

“I assume somebody, somewhere, assumed something was going on, correctly, and didn’t say anything.

“At the time I did not think about it possibly ruining my career. I really probably only thought about it when I saw the rumour mill, and saw it growing.

“Then I saw the link with the drama school photo all those years before, and thought, ‘This looks shocking’.

“But I didn’t lie to protect my career, he didn’t want his name in public. He wanted his own life.

“The lies grew bigger and bigger and bigger. It was affecting both of us deeply. It got to the stage where it was out of control and for whatever cost, it had to stop.

“I have massive guilt, and regret. I’ve made a mistake, I’ve had an affair at work.”

Overnight, the star, a household name and one-time national treasure, feels he has lost everything.

His huge salary has gone. He will not be suing ITV and is not demanding a settlement package.

He claims ITV has offered him therapy, but he is yet to accept.

Instead, he is relying on his wife, daughters and friends.

He has also been contacted, he says, by a raft of ex-colleagues offering support.

Phil also issued an apology to his This Morning co-star Holly Willoughby for lying to her about his secret relationship — and for tainting her public image.

He said the pair have broken all ­contact — and revealed it was his paedophile brother’s imprisonment that made her distance herself from the friendship.

He says: “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.

“As we see now, this is a vicious game and the last thing you want is for something to stick on you.

“It was becoming bigger than the people we had on the show. I understand that.”

SHOCK ADMISSIONS

Phil also relived the moment his brief relationship with a young runner started in his dressing room after a show.

He revealed he worked with the colleague for a short period and had become friends.

He said: “Then one day something happened that just changed it. That is the moment I look back on, and regret so deeply.

“It was in my dressing room in 2017, it was a consensual moment, it was mutual.

“It was not a love affair, it was not a relationship, we were not boyfriends; we were mates.

“It wasn’t feelings (I was getting), it was more like mates: excitement.

“I was really struggling with my sexuality at that time in the build up to what happened.

“But over a period of time it happened maybe five or six times.

“We just didn’t think anyone knew, there was no lying, we thought, stupidly, that nobody knew.

“You look at yourself. I was unprofessional, one time, in a 41-year career.

“I know I did that. And there is no excuse. I won’t put forward an excuse. No one did anything wrong apart from me.”