Phillip Schofield scandal would turn ‘cataclysmic’ if full details of his affair came out, source claims

The fallout from Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger lover would be ‘cataclysmic’ to the shamed TV star if the full details came out, a source has claimed.

The former This Morning host, who quit the show in disgrace after his liaisons with a male colleague 34 years his junior became public knowledge, has been in the wilderness since admitting to the affair and lying to his ITV employers last May.

It has now been revealed that the 61-year-old paid his former lover a six-figure sum in return for signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which means the younger man is prevented from ever talking about their relationship.

A lawyer acting for Schofield confirmed a deal was signed with last year which included a ‘mutual non-disclosure provision’ and payment to compensate the man for losses suffered.

While the father-of-two has barely been seen on TV since the scandal, a source familiar with the NDA has told the Mail on Sunday the full details of the affair could bring further pain for him should they ever be revealed.

Schofield admitted to his relationship with the man, who was just 15 when he met the presenter for the first time and who he helped landed a coveted job as a runner on This Morning at the age of 19, in an extraordinary mea culpa to the Mail last May. 

A romantic relationship between the pair began when the man was 20, after which he moved to another ITV daytime show, Loose Women. He later left the channel with a separate payout.

Despite the clause gagging both sides from talking about the affair, Schofield revealed intimate details of their relationship when he was interviewed by the BBC’s Amol Rajan last June.

A source familiar with the NDA told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The young man has been fragile for some time. That is no secret. 

‘There was a payment made for various matters that followed Phillip’s decision to speak out about his relationship and as part of that, an NDA was arranged and signed.

‘It means that Phil knows that his young ex will not ever be able to speak about their relationships so he can probably sleep a lot better at night now.

‘He has lost a lot but imagine if the full details came out – it would be pretty cataclysmic for him.

‘As for the young man, let’s hope that he can move on with his life now and rebuild it – but it isn’t easy. 

‘And it’s a bit rich to present an NDA after Phil had his say with the BBC last year.’

The man – referred to only as Person X by ITV during its investigation – was represented by top London law firm Mishcon de Reya in the negotiations surrounding the NDA. 

In the BBC interview, Schofield insisted he had not groomed the young man after meeting him at a stage school.

Confessing to be ‘utterly broken and ashamed,’ he added: ‘We were mates, and then in my dressing room one day, something happened, which obviously I will regret for ever, for him and for me – mostly him – but that happened maybe four or five times over the next few months.

‘I know it’s unforgivable. But we weren’t boyfriends. We weren’t in a relationship. I was really in a mess with my own sexuality at the time, and it just happened.’

Schofield also said the man landed his This Morning role ‘on his own merit… because he was very good at his job’. He added: ‘Everybody loved him. He worked very hard.’

The former Dancing On Ice host took part in the interview after he confessed to the affair he conducted behind his wife Stephanie Lowe’s back.

In his bombshell statement to the Daily Mail, Schofield described the relationship as ‘unwise but not illegal’ as he confessed to lying to his colleagues, his friends and his agents at the management firm YMU. 

In the statement, he said: ‘I am making this statement via the Daily Mail, to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago. 

‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. 

‘I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.

‘Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than a just a friendship. 

‘That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.’

The young man, now 27, declined to comment on the deal or any of the details within it.