Phillip Scofield Why all the Fuss

Early 90s - I don't remember that it would have been so difficult then for a TV personality to have just let everyone realise he (or she) was gay as a matter of course without fanfare.

At that time DD had a couple of male friends who were gay (not in a couple) and used to be part of the group of young people who went around together etc. Likewise I had two or three colleagues who were gay; their sexuality did not define them, their work did.

No doubt there will be a book.

Like so many of you I really couldn't care a less and all this hugging and congratulations - Why?

Would be totally gutted if my husband came out as gay. I feel for his wife Steph, of course they have to say he has the support of his wife and family but behind closed doors I think a very different matter. She must feel very betrayed after 27 years of marriage.

He seems a nice man, he is famous, but apart from that what is the fuss about, this must happen all the time famous or not, leave the man alone.
I hope his wife and family are takimg it well, as he suggested they did.

I remember when PS came out as being grey

Apparently he'd been dyeing his hair for years.

Well posted trisher faye17 Sirchenjin Readymeals
I read a comment yesterday that said "I thought Philip said he was GREY. Much more shocking to me "
Sorry I thought that was funny

Why is he making such a big fuss? I hope his wife gets support and sympathy. I would have respected him far more if he had made the announcement and then got on with his life. It’s no big deal for the public, just his family. He’ll no doubt be writing a book about it next. ?

So PS is gay but it's not a big surprise or shocking. I am sure from what he has said his wife has known for some time. It could be she was quite happy with the lifestyle they have and he has said there hasnt been any men and he is not thinking about that at the moment. How many women stay with their husbands for the lifestyle although their husbands are always having affairs with women?
From today's article he has been seeing a psychologist for some time and a publicity company involved with an article in one of the Sunday papers.
I have several gay friends and transsexual friends. One gay couple became civil partners and later got married. One of them's mother is quite accepting but says in private of course they only live together they don't have a sex life. How sad is that.
Like paddyanne I think he went public before someone else did it for him.

Ready meals
Lots of common sense there - very good post thankyou

Like Terribull and others, I really couldn't care less, and having also watched the film 1917, I think all the adoration, cries of bravery etc., from his fellow vacuous celebrities are nauseating. He hasn't saved a colleague from the trenches, he hasn't rescued a drowning puppy, he has told the people who pay his massive salary that he fancies men instead of women. Big deal, now can the tv presenters get on with grown up, real news such as what is happening to those children in Syria as the bombing goes on and on.......

Elothan I think your totally wrong to say there’s homophobia on here please point out what posts are homophobic I ve missed them I think people are just bored with the hooha and couldn’t really care wether he’s in bed with a man or a woman but maybe I m wrong so show us please

Never liked the man, I always thought his 'nice guy' public persona was fake. I don't care if he's gay, but he is a man who has deceived his family for nearly 30 years and that is despicable and deserves no praise.

Yes, the number of homophobic comments is worrying. We seem to be moving backwards where tolerance is concerned.

His wife may or may not be suffering, though. It could very well be that she has been happy with the arrangement - it can't have been so dreadful as they have been together for 27 years.

People do come to agreements between themselves that may not be to others' tastes, but work for them.

For all we know it may be his wife who wants to be with someone else and has asked for this announcement so that she can do so without censure. We just don't know, and nor should we.

Whatever people think of PS, this is a separate matter, and whereas he needn't have made it public, he must have had his reasons for doing so, and no amount of speculation about them will bring us nearer to knowing what they were.

One good thing is that when someone popular and famous talks about things like this (or cancer screening, or miscarriage, or domestic violence, or anything that can be difficult for some people to talk about) it gives courage to others by normalising it. IMO this can only be a good thing, and whilst I don't care either way about PS's sexuality, if his talking about it helps someone else to have a difficult conversation then I'm pleased he has done it.

If my husband of 29 years told me after 2 children he was homosexual i would be reaching for the disinfectant and going to a VD clinic
Let me be clear - i would be doing this if partner was a man or woman

He knows the game, has been accused of bullying and would have been outed by a trash paper
So got his mate hollie to help him

Hos poor wife - if he is gay who has he been with already ?
In other words, man or woman he has been unfaithful emotionally and physically

To me anyone who does this is scum

I feel so sorry for his wife and daughters. This is a very private matter and he should not be publicly congratulated on TV. I suspect somebody was going to ‘spill the beans’ or even threaten blackmail, so he was getting in first.

I wonder how he will cope with Dancing on Ice tomorrow. I imagine he's having a difficult weekend.

I agree with Blue Belle.

Totally agree BlueBelle

I agree Eloethan

More homophobic or bordering on homophobic comments on here than I expected.

I recall during the few years before I retired a female colleagues husband ending their forty year marriage.
Her H was leaving her for a another man .although as she claimed 'was in bits about it,' found it less hard to accept than had it been ' another woman'.I could understand this as I too, were it another woman have wanted to know what does she have /can give /given you that I cannot / haven't. I must be very naïve.

Hear Hear BlueBelle

I really don’t care either way - I do however think he has “jumped on a band wagon” I’m not sure if he’s gay or thinks he is.... I have friends who have been married many years they came out caused upset in their families and then decided not to leave their marriage or pursue a relationship with another man. They may as well have left it all as was and not caused the pain.

But I agree with the general view it’s a so what announcement, no one cares either way.

As with racism, it only takes an issue like this to reveal an underlying current of homophobia.

MissAdventure Yes,discreet gay couples could get away with quite a lot in those days. "They share a bedroom to save on heating costs" was one explanation I remember hearing, and women who shared a home longterm were "just good friends".
And there were the newspaper obituaries - men who had never married were routinely described as "confirmed batchelors"; everyone knew what that meant.
I prefer today's atitude that people no longer have to be "discreet" about their sexuality and can hop into bed with anybody they like. However, the fuss that the media have been making over PS is ridiculous, not to mention his going on about the pain he's been suffering.
He's not been brave at all by coming out now. Coming out twenty years ago, leaving his marriage so that his wife could find happiness with someone else, and risking his whole career - now that would have been the brave thing to do!
In my view, it's his wife who is now suffering. She's almost certainly known all about it and silently put up with it for years; now that it's all over the news, she has to plaster on a smile for the cameras and pretend that everything is fine and always has been.