Phillip Scofield Why all the Fuss

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

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

granny

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.

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

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.

Good post Faye17.

Hear hear faye17

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 ?

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

Who flipping cares?

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.

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"!

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

It's the bloomin' pathos that goes with it that's sickening especially when you see/hear all the evil that goes on in the world.
What are we all expected to do about this piece of non-news ?

I read last week that he'd be leaving ? Holly had said if he goes, so does she. Mmmmm.

I'm the same age as Phillip, and I think ''coming out" would have been very difficult as a young person.

My gay friend looked after her sisters abandoned children for over a year, then they were removed from her care because of her "lifestyle" by social services.

She is mid 50s.

Those children would not be removed these days the social services love to give placements to children into gay households it's all so absolutely modern darling.

Yes, she is now married to another woman and they have three children.

Times have moved on very quickly.

Yaaaaawwn. Boring man. Does silly adverts that's all I know. I only came here out of respect for GransNet to find out what it was about. I shouldn't have bothered. I'm not interested.

Spot on Trisher

He's a nice man and its really only the business of himself and his family. The only thing I would say is that as he has been married 27 years and presumably having a normal sexual life with his wife ,(or they would surely have split years ago) he is more likely bisexual rather than homosexual

Times should move on if someone is in a relationship/ married to same sex as they say then that is a sign of the times after all it's not a crime to love who you love. the more love in the world the better.

There's a lot of feeling sorry for his poor wife and daughters.

But has anyone "official" said that his wife has only just found out, alongside the rest of the world?

For all we know Steph may also be gay, and they've rubbed along together just fine up until now. Do we know he/they have lived a lie? There's a lot of assumptions being made.

She may have known for years. We don't know if that's the case. And neither should we. It's entirely between the two of them.

And why sorry for their daughters? He's still their dad, no matter what his sexuality, and that will never change. Again, for all we know, the daughters may be well aware of his sexuality.

When it was "announced" to gasps in our office yesterday, I immediately said "he's done that because someone's threatened to out him". And if that's the case, then I can totally understand it.

But I really couldn't be less interested in his sexuality. It doesn't affect me in the slightest. All I want from Philip Schofield is his TV presenter skills, and those skills won't change (hopefully) because he's gay.

I wonder how long it will be though before the media circus reveals the first photograph of him and his new male "friend". And I really won't be interested in that, either

Thankfully MissAdventure. I remember well the homophobia in the 80s when no-one at school dared to come out and gay people were called poofs and queers and lezzas and worse, and then I worked on an HIV/AIDS programme in the early 90s with the NHS when men with the disease were shunned by their families and friends. Things have improved over the years thankfully, and it’s much easier for young people to live honest lives. Long may it continue.

Is he gay or bi sexual?? I wonder as he has been married for so long and fathered two children.