Alison Hammond breaks down on This Morning over Phillip Schofield interview

Alison Hammond: "As a [TV] family we're all really struggling to process everything"

This Morning presenter Alison Hammond has broken down live on the programme while reacting to the departure of ex-colleague Phillip Schofield.

Schofield told the BBC he feels his "career is over" following the affair he had with a young male colleague.

Speaking on Friday's show, Hammond said he had apologised and urged people not to judge his actions too harshly.

"I'm just finding it really painful because obviously I loved Phillip Schofield," she said.

"And it's weird because I still love Phillip Schofield. However what he's done is wrong, he's admitted it, he's said sorry.

"But as a [TV] family we're all really struggling to process everything and I never know what to say."

She continued: "But I remember what my mum always said: 'Use your Bible as your Sat Nav in life Al', and in the Bible it says 'he without sin, cast the first stone'.

"And I just don't want to say anything bad because obviously I'm in conflict."

Schofield, 61, left the ITV show last week after he admitted lying about the affair with a male colleague, who he first met at the age of 15 and helped to get into the industry.

The network has asked a barrister to lead a review into its handling of the short-lived relationship.

This week, instead of its usual presenters Schofield and Holly Willoughby, This Morning has been fronted by Hammond alongside Dermot O'Leary.

O'Leary noted that "what Phil has done is wrong" but offered, given the widespread coverage, there should now be concerns about his mental health.

• Amol Rajan: Schofield's hands were shaking

• ITV to review how it handled Schofield affair

• Schofield dropped as Prince's Trust ambassador

Clutching a small green vape during an interview with the BBC's Amol Rajan, Schofield suggested recent events had left him feeling suicidal, drawing a parallel with the media treatment and online abuse of the late Caroline Flack.

Former Love Island presenter Flack's death prompted an outpouring of grief as well as a demand for it to become a turning point for the treatment of celebrities on social media and the press.

She took her own life in 2020, having stood down from the dating show after she was charged with assaulting her partner in December.

Several Twitter users commented that Schofield's comparison was "distasteful".

'Difficult for us'

O'Leary said on This Morning: "As a society, quite rightly we talk about mental health all the time but that can't be the preserve of people who are on the right side of history."

Hammond added: "There's [only] so much a man can take, isn't there? And I don't want any death in this situation."

Schofield, who is married with two children, received an outpouring of support in 2020 after revealing he is gay.

Another This Morning regular, Gyles Brandreth, said the controversy around him was "a human story but with public implications".

"The point is, the public implication is to do with broadcasting and to do with workplace rules, regulations, good behaviour [and] that is going to be dealt with by the review and we'll learn the consequences of that," he said.

"At the same time, we are dealing with the human being that all of us here have known and liked over many years, so it makes it difficult for us.

"And really, what I'm saying is that the reaction to it has been in some ways disproportionate at the human level."

Phillip Schofield: The full interview

The former This Morning presenter speaks about his affair and the subsequent fall out, with the BBC's Amol Rajan.

Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK Only)

Fellow broadcaster Richard Bacon also lent his support, tweeting it was "time to stop piling in on this human being". The former Blue Peter presenter was sacked from the show in 1998 after admitting taking cocaine.

Former Good Morning Britain presenter and broadcaster Piers Morgan agreed it was "time to stop this relentless persecution of a guy who's lost everything and looks right on the edge to me.

"He doesn't seem to have committed any crime, and he's not a govt minister."

But Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of the Sun, disputed Schofield's claim that public scrutiny on his relationship with a younger man was homophobic.

"Don't agree," he posted. "Suspect it would have been even worse had he met a girl of 15, arranged for her to have a job with him at 18 and then at some stage turned the 'friendship' into an affair."

"He's only 'sad' because his dirty secret came out," said political commentator Bushra Shaikh, "Otherwise he'd still be sat presenting on that sofa.

"[Forget] his crocodile tears."

'Two lives blown apart'

ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has been asked to face questions from MPs on the situation at ITV and This morning, at a session of the committee on 14 June.

Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Schofield's interview was "very hard to listen to".

"This is two lives blown apart by this incident," she said.

"This is two careers devastated by this and not to mention all the families and loved ones that are going to be impacted as well. It's a very difficult interview to listen to."

Holly Willoughby is back on the The Morning sofa on Monday

Lauren Beeching, founder of crisis management agency Honest London, told the BBC the public response to his interview had "picked out certain parts that Phillip has said, and disagreed with and shared, pushing even more of a 'witch hunt'".

"It's clear that Phillip felt the urge to respond to the hate, but right now, very little can be said to improve his situation. I would have advised him to stay silent until public anger calmed down."

But she disagreed with Schofield saying his career was over, adding: "I've worked with celebrities experiencing similar levels of public outrage, and in every instance, with time, the public backlash lessens. This is when Phillip can begin rebuilding his reputation."

Simon Wadsworth, founder of Igniyte, a reputations management consultancy, told the BBC he saw the interview as a "positive step" which could "help sway public opinion in his favour", adding: "Phillip Schofield was right to come out with his side of the story, which must have been very difficult. The interview will help to balance the narrative."

He also thought the presenter's TV career was not over, saying: "At the moment yes it would seem so but in the long term no... No presenter is irreplaceable. He needs to take himself away to rebuild and reassess."

At the end of This Morning's Friday show, Hammond also confirmed that Holly Willoughby would return to the sofa to present it on Monday, alongside Josie Gibson.

ITV told the BBC it was not issuing any further statements, referring back to the independent review into its handling of a relationship between Schofield and his colleague, set up earlier this week.

For more reaction to the Phillip Schofield interview, listen on BBC Sounds to 5 Live's Voice of the UK with Nicky Campbell.