A bitter WhatsApp message Phillip Schofield sent to Holly Willoughby before his career downfall has been reportedly revealed.
The Cast Away star, 64, told Holly, 43, she had ‘brought him down’ before he left This Morning after lying about having an affair with a younger colleague, it has been claimed.
He also reportedly said he ‘couldn’t believe his TV sister would do this to him.’
Schofield reportedly scolded the Dancing On Ice presenter for not showing him any public support to help dampen rumours of a rift between the two on them behind the scenes on the ITV show.
‘He feels it was a simple gesture that might have saved his job and her refusal to do so effectively finished him off. Believing in the TV chemistry was the bedrock of the This Morning format,’ a friend told The Mirror.
Willoughby reportedly refused a public gesture on the advice of ITV bosses and because she ‘didn’t want to feed the narrative’ that was engulfing This Morning.
The friend claimed Schofield complained to two senior ITV bosses after Willoughby’s response because he was so upset.
He is also said to have felt like Willoughby and a This Morning boss had staged a ‘very well constructed coup’ before his TV career disintegrated.
A source told the publication: ‘Phillip considered her a friend, his TV sister as he called her, and always backed her, even recommending her to do the jungle. Her lack of public support was a low blow in his eyes.’
In another bombshell claim, the friend disputed Willoughby had been ‘blindsided’ by Schofield’s brother’s arrest and had been informed of it a month after it happened.
On May 19, 2023, his brother Timothy Schofield was sentenced to 12 years in prison for child abuse.
‘There is a narrative – uncorrected by Holly’s team – that she was blindsided by news of his brother’s court case and was furious with him for keeping her in the dark about it,’ a friend told The Mirror.
‘But that narrative couldn’t be further from the truth.’
However, a source told the MailOnline that Willoughby is annoyed by these claims and insisted there isn’t a shred of truth in it.
Last week, Schofield returned to television for the first time in 16 months in a three-episode series of Cast Away on Channel 5 which saw him stranded on a deserted island for 10 days off the coast of Madagascar.
During the show, Schofield and his family clearly mocked Willoughby, making a dig at her statement when she returned to This Morning to address her co-host’s exit.
At the time she went viral for asking viewers ‘are you ok?’, and in Cast Away Schofield, his wife Stephanie Lowe and their two children Molly and Ruby cackled around the dinner table as he repeated Willoughby’s unfortunate catchphrase: ‘Are you ok?’
Willoughby has kept a dignified silence about her feelings towards Schofield since his TV comeback, which was branded a ‘car crash’ and was a ratings flop, losing a third of its audience between the first and third episode.
The night Cast Away premiered Willoughby shared a photo of herself supporting her pal Tamzin Outhwaite at the EastEnders star’s play Abigail’s Party, subtly letting everyone know she had better things to do than watch Schofield.
Schofield returned to X for the first time since 2021 after Cast Away aired, writing alongside a picture of him sitting on a beach: ‘Brief return to X. I’m so proud of these shows. Cast Away streaming now on My5.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Willoughby and Schofield’s reps as well as ITV for comment.
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