More than a year after admitting to an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair and leaving This Morning, Phillip Schofield appears to still be supported by his wife of 30 years as he makes his TV comeback on Channel 5’s Cast Away.
Last May, the former ITV star, 62, stepped down from ITV soon after rumours first emerged that he’d had a ‘fall-out’ with co-host Holly Willoughby.
When the news of the scandal broke, he confessed that his wife was ‘very, very angry’ with him over the affair.
Stephanie, who shares two daughters with the presenter, had believed his dismissals of rumours and was said to be ‘devastated’ when she was told.
However, she has still not filed for a legal divorce from her estranged husband after a source claimed there was ‘still love’ between the two.
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And he’s been pictured wearing his wedding ring, ever since coming out as gay four years ago, a sign of their close relationship.
Schofield has also spoken about the support he’s received from his daughters, citing them as the reason he took ‘a step back from the edge’ when he was close to suicide.
So who are Phillip’s wife and daughters? Here’s what we know.
Who is Phillip Schofield’s wife?
Phillip has been married to wife Stephanie Lowe, 59, for 30 years.
The pair met while they were both were working at the BBC – he was working in children’s television and she was working as a production assistant.
In 1993, the pair tied the knot at Ackergill Tower in Scotland, before moving to Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.
Stephanie announced in 2020 she was standing by Phillip after he publicly came out as gay, making the announcement in a statement on Instagram before an emotional interview with Holly Willoughby on This Morning.
She told The Sun: ‘I love Phillip, as much today as I ever have, and always will.
‘We’ve been awestruck by the strength and love of our precious girls, even as they’ve been trying to make sense of it all for themselves. Our family have also been so supportive and will help us going forward.
‘Although this is difficult for us all, I support Phillip in taking this brave step. I will still be there, holding his hand. Everyone should be proud to live their own truth.’
While the pair no longer live together, it’s been reported – before the recent revelations – that they remain on good terms. The presenter previously told Chris Evans’ How To Wow podcast: ‘We’re still married. With divorce… we’ve not discussed that at all.’
But Stephanie was said to be ‘devastated’ by Phillip’s lies over his affair with the younger runner and he admitted she is ‘very, very angry’.
Phillip moved out of the family home in Henley-On-Thames in 2020, once lockdown restrictions eased, and now lives in Chiswick, West London.
Stephanie often cropped up in Phillip’s stories on This Morning – with the host sharing the story of how he proposed, telling Holly: ‘I proposed to Steph, it was in an Advent calendar.
‘You could put your own things into the boxes…every night she opened it up and I put in bath salts, cheapy things for every day. On the given day that I’d chosen, I put the engagement ring in.
‘She opened it up and I hopped out of bed starkers and got down on one knee!’
Stephanie has still not filed for a legal divorce from her estranged husband after a source claimed there was ‘still love’ between the two.
‘Whatever Phillip has done behind Steph’s back, she still loves him,’ an insider told OK! last year.
‘Even if the love they shared in the beginning of their marriage is different to what it is now, the love is still very much there.’
Do Phillip and Stephanie have children?
The pair are parents to two grown-up daughters – the elder of the two, Molly, was born back in 1993, while younger daughter Ruby was born in 1996.
His eldest features prominently throughout the first episode of Cast Away, in which she praises him as ‘an amazing man’ and also speaks about what it was like having a dad come out as gay on national television and then be at the centre of a public scandal.
Despite it all though she says she feels like ‘the luckiest person ever’.
She explains: ‘When my dad came out it was very hard for me. It was very hard for the entire family – mainly my mum of course, everything was turned upside down. But we talked through it and over time it’s got easier.’
Phillip also speaks about how close he was to suicide after the scandal broke, and how it was a message from his daughters that forced him to take a step back.
‘A year ago I got so so close,’ he says. ‘I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready and it was Molly that was looking after me, Molly and Ruby both looking after me at the time.
‘Molly said, “Do you know what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull this off? Can you actually imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch?”
‘And that was just enough to take a step back from the edge.’
In an interview with The Sun last year, Phillip spoke about when news of his affair broke, saying: ‘My daughters were unbelievable.
‘They are without question, our greatest asset. I always say our, but from a father’s point of view, my greatest asset are my girls.’
He said: ‘I have the rest of my life now to try and plan for Steph and the girls, and hope that I can look after them.’
Ruby studied psychology at Leeds Beckett University and Molly has followed her father into showbiz by working as a talent manager.
Molly also took to social media when Phillip came out in 2020, posting a touching tribute to her father in a picture alongside her mother and younger sister.
‘Love you always,’ she wrote alongside the snap. ‘so proud of you.’
She then tagged her dad in the post, alongside a love heart emoji.
Phillip previously credited his children with ‘keeping him current’, telling Hello! ’Both of them have great taste in music and play stuff that I maybe haven’t heard before.’
He explained: ‘I was driving Ruby back to uni and she said, “You’ve got to listen to this.” Ruby and her mates discovered it just before it broke – Megan Trainor’s All About That Bass.
‘As we listened to it… I can remember I said, “oh my God, this is incredible.” And I thank Ruby for introducing me to that, way before anybody else!”
Who are Phillip Schofield’s parents?
Phillip’s mother Pat, is in her 80s, and he escaped to her home in Cornwall after the news of his affair broke.
Last year he paid touching tribute to her on Mother’s Day. Sharing a snap of the pair outside the Blackpool Tower Phillip wrote: ‘Through thick and thin she’s always there. Happy Mother’s Day to my amazing mum.
Pat also spoke out when Phillip came out, saying: ‘When Phillip drove to Cornwall to tell me, the first thing I said was I don’t care.
‘Yes it was a shock, but nothing as a family that we can’t support and applaud.’
Phillip’s dad, Brian, sadly died in May 2008 from a long-standing heart condition.
Does Phillip Schofield have siblings?
Phillip has a younger brother, Timothy Schofield.
Timothy, 54, a former civilian police worker, was found guilty in April 2023 of 11 sexual offences involving a child, including two of sexual activity with a child.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison at Bristol Crown Court on May 19.
Following the verdict, Phillip issued a statement condemning the actions of his sibling in which he said: ‘As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother.’
Phillip Schofield statement in full
‘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 just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
‘When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody “forced” me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me. In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship.
‘But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
‘I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.
‘I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me.
‘I will reflect on my very bad judgment in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it. To protect his privacy, I am not naming this individual and my deepest wish is that both he and his family can now move on with their lives free from further intrusion, and that this statement will enable them to do so.
‘I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.’
MORE : Phillip Schofield’s ‘lover’ was just 15 when star met him during talk at school
MORE : Piers Morgan slams ‘relentless persecution’ of Phillip Schofield following tell-all interviews
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