Phillip Schofield says ‘coming out caused me more anguish than joy’ ahead of shock TV return
28 September 2024, 10:30
Phillip Schofield has said coming out as gay caused him “more anguish than joy” ahead of a controversial TV return.
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The former This Morning star is making a shock return to TV just 16 months after being axed from screens.
Called Cast Away, the show will see the 62-year-old sent to a tropical island for 10 days where he opens up about two years which have left his career on the brink.
Speaking ahead of the show’s launch, Schofield opened up about coming out as gay after being married to his wife since 1993.
Phillip said: “For me, doing it later in life, at the moment, it’s just given me more anguish than joy.
"Because I’m fully aware of the damage that it leaves.
"I still have the love of my family. Never wavered.”
Read more: Phillip Schofield set for TV comeback just 16 months after This Morning scandal
Schofield’s wife, Stephanie, also took part in the interview ahead of Cast Away’s launch.
She added: “What people don’t realise is that they batter you, but there are other people affected.
“There’s no question, by doing this, you’re popping your head back up above the parapet for the very few horrid people that there are out there.”
This comes after the former This Morning star revealed that he had "everything in place" for a suicide attempt but his daughter brought him back from "the edge".
Speaking on the first episode of the three-part series, Schofield says: "In the last eighteen months, it got as dark as it is possible to get.
"A year ago I got so, so close. I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready and it was Molly that was looking after me."
Schofield goes on to say that the only reason he is still alive is because his 31-year-old daughter, Molly, talked him down from "the edge".
He explains that she said: "Can you imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch?"
"That was just enough to take a step back from the edge," he said.
"And I could have been hospitalised… But then I thought, 'That is going to get out.'
"So I just raced to the family home and shut the gates."
Addressing his decision to return to public life for the show, he said: "I locked myself away from the outside world. But now I want to see if the ultimate isolation can finally set me free."
Channel 5 has said that Schofield being left on an island with a handful of cameras will allow him to "confront the challenges of total isolation, the forces of nature, and provides the time to battle within his own mind as he explores his own controversial story".
The series will air across three nights from Sunday until Tuesday at 9pm on each of those days.
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