Phillip Scofield Why all the Fuss

Who flippin cares? I think I may announce I am bi-sexual tomorrow, no-body would bat an eye-lid or give a monkeys.

I can't quite believe how people can't see how difficult it must have been for everybody involved. Even if his wife has known for quite some time, it must have been very painful for her. His children might be completely supportive but I've known children from such a family and although they fully supported their father, they suffered feelings of confusion and a reframing of their childhood memories. Somebody I know found out that her husband had been meeting men for sex, having completely smoke screened things by openly flirting with many woman which caused rows, and the shock has changed her for life.
I suspect that somewhere along the line, something happened and he was worried he was going to be outed. For all we know, Ruth may well have seen/overheard something and the ill feeling between her and PS could have been a result of that. Be sure that nothing is as it seems but the truth has a habit of "outing"!

He is 57 Faye
He would have been a young man in the 1980/90s not in the 1930s. He got married in 1993 at age 30.
Were people overly concerned about someone's sexuality at that time? I can't remember homosexuality being thought of as an abomination then. It's not that long ago.

I can understand him not wanting to upset his wife and family, but I think he has made it worse for her, his children and himself by living a lie. He must have known at age 30 and no-one would have batted an eyelid in the 1990s if a TV personality was gay or not.

Who flipping cares?

Following Philip Scofield's 'shock' announcement The Pope has revealed he is a practicing Catholic!

There was a very interesting take on this from a friend who is gay and who "came out" at the time of the aids epidemic.I wont quote his whole post but he ends by calling PS a cowardly ,selfish ,whinging, attention seeking blob of gob sh---.
Can you get the gist of his reaction ?

Hear hear faye17

Good post Faye17.

I was just thinking that the dreadful posts on this thread are part of what kept Scofield in the closet for so long. The hatred and criticism is unbelievable. He was possibly denying his sexuality and married and had children with someone he fell in love with. Love is not necessarily dependant on the sex of the person. He stayed married and brought up his daughters, now he's decided he wants to be open and honest about his sexuality. Honestly it's a non-story except it illustrates how deeply antagonism and hatred still runs in some people.

Where's your compassion for this man all you grandmother's?
Like many many more decent individuals he grew up in a climate where boy married girl/girl married boy. Any feelings of same-sex attraction were immediately blanked out because it would have been an abomination to admit to them even to oneself. That was the way things were. When he married his wife I'm sure he loved her, was totally committed to a married life with her and still does love her deeply.
With the passage of time, his own maturation & the present- day more open attitude to homosexuality/bisexuality it became possible for him to admit that his own sexual orientation.
His bravery comes from facing every day during the course of his marriage feeling as he did but continuing to do what he believed was the RIGHT thing. He is a responsible husband & father and I've no doubt his family are all immensely proud of him.
Having the job he's had he would certainly have had the added fear of 'coming out - part of his charm was that he was ' the boy next-door'. None of us are too young to not know that had the boy next door been known to be homosexual he would have been shunned. Of course this was down to the ignorance and intolerance of the times; I would have hoped we'd all grown up since then.
Whatever anyone's opinion is the reality for Philip is that he is in the public eye & the public believe they have the tight to know everything about these celebrities. There is an insatiable thirst for information about their every move.
Announcing it to that same public was the RIGHT thing to do .
How/ when his family learned of his homosexuality is an utterly private matter & not open to speculation.
Many individuals who have found themselves in similar circumstances as Philip have not been able to cope at all, some even ending their own lives - God help them. And God forgive us for adding to their sense of isolation & desperation by our trite & ignorant comments.
I salute Philip & his family for their continued bravery as I do hundreds of thousands of brave families everywhere everyday facing a myriad of very difficult life situations.
Let's all just be a little kinder
Good luck Phil & your precious family

All he has done is make a statement. Its the media and everyone else who has blown it up out of all proportion. As per usual.

granny

I have to say it - he's come out of the Broom Cupboard!!!

A quick look at the papers and social media today would suggest that many, many people are very interested.

SirChenjin - how do you know how old anyone is on this site?
You talk as if the majority of people on here are in their 80’s. Many are only in their 40’s or 50’s ( me being one of them! ) parenting teens in the 70’s? Crikey I still in primary school in the 70’s.

Gay or straight I can't bear the man. I've read too many unfavourable reports (gossip?) about what a bullying control freak he was with Fern Britton when he first joined This Morning, how he threw a strop when Holly stood in for Ant in the jungle, because he wanted to do it but Dec wanted Holly and now there's this bullying thing with Ruth.
And, as everybody is saying why all the fuss? No, he hasn't saved a life, he's just been very self indulgent on TV, which I didn't watch but have had rammed down my throat on every news programme and on the front pages of the papers.
Get over yourself, nobody is that interested surely.

Agree with what the majority are saying here: I’m not interested in other people’s sexual proclivities & I wish more ‘celebrities’ kept their private lives private. I believe few people theses days are judgemental about someone’s sexuality, so why all the fuss? As others have said, he probably went public ahead of some salacious copy appearing in the Press. I did feel immensely sorry for his wife & daughters and I thought the manner of the disclosure (him sitting almost smirking on the sofa whilst Holly Willoughby read his words was utterly bizarre). Mountain & molehill spring to mind ...

Has he had extra marital sex with men? Has he said so?

Having extra marital sex with women would be adultery, so why does having extra marital sex with men make him a hero?

Some very odd posts on this thread. Given the demographics of the site and the fact that many of the posters coming out with some of more bizarre posts would have been parenting teens in the seventies and eighties it’s obvious why so many didn’t come out back then.

Doodledog I think there are still some people who are genuinely confused by things like the difference between transsexual and homosexual etc. Unfortunately.

Maybe. I wonder though - phrases like 'jumping on the bang wagon', and talking about 'the norm' don't sound very confused to me. More like homophobic.

Doodledog I think there are still some people who are genuinely confused by things like the difference between transsexual and homosexual etc. Unfortunately.

Just waiting for all the newspaper /internet stories in the coming weeks.....will there be any famous faces telling all....who knows, who cares? In my opinion he needs to keep as low a profile as possible, then hopefully he can get on with his life in peace and we wont have to endure living his private life with him.

If PS is no longer a 'man' does he lose his enormous salary and get paid the same as Ruth, a woman presenter?

Gay men are still men. I'm guessing that all of your post was deliberately provocative, so will leave it there.

Grannyshome but P.S. has a far higher profile than did an international rugby union player so perhaps all the palaver was appropriate after all

But PS's profile has never been a macho one like a rugby player.

Regarding Holly Willoughby's reaction, she is frequently OTT in her reactions to almost anything.

As someone mentioned further back, would there be all this palava if Elton John suddenly declared himself straight and ditched his husband?

PS himself has said that he wasn't forced to announce this, presumably meaning not forced by media intrusion.

The "hero" in this drama is his wife.