Phillip schofield

ould’nt surprise me!

Primrose53

Forsythia

If he was a serial philanderer wouldn’t more have chipped in by now? It seems it’s just this one person. Normally they all pile in/on and more revelations come to light but they haven’t. In his industry being gay is widespread I think. Look at Stephen Fry and his very young husband.

Indeed. Have you ever seen anybody looking so bored and uninterested as Stephen Fry’s very young husband? Every photo I have ever seen of them, he looks like he would rather be anywhere else.

Didn’t he leave his long term partner for this younger man?

FannyCornforth

My husband is 26 years my senior, but we have never been mistaken for anything other than partners.
Stephen Fry and his husband look ridiculously mismatched

But do you look the same age?

Stephen Fry's husband is 30 years younger, although he does look a lot younger than his 36 years.

I think that this case is bringing out the worst in most people on here, endlessly repeating what could be lies, certainly innuendo.

DinahMo
No! Of course we don’t look the same flipping age!
Good grief!

When we met I was 26 and he was 54.
Now I am 51 and he’s 77.
And I actually look about 10 years younger than 51.

Do Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas look the same age?

My maths was wrong (I blame the indignation).
When we met he was 52

I didn’t get the impression DinahMo was being rude, FannyCornforth, I thought it was a genuine question. Sometimes people look much older or younger than their years. If you look about 40 and your husband is 77, I’m surprised you say you’re never mistaken for anything other than partners.

We are all flawed, and Stephen Fry has been brutally honest about his own failings in his autobiographical books. Unusually so for someone who is such a celebrity. He would certainly be high on my list if I had to populate the "dinner party" list with my favoured guests. As for some of the ageist comments here, I'll simply choose to ignore them. Disappointingly shallow.

Sarah, I apologise, but I was genuinely surprised.
No, I don’t look like I’m in my late 70s!

When we are at hospital together people ask our relationship, but if people see us socially they can tell that we are a couple.

It’s body language I suppose.

My father and my husband are similar age (actually DH is a couple of years older) but I expect our body language and the way we interact is very different.

I suppose that some people have wondered, but they have never made a comment about our age difference or relationship.

Perhaps we’ve been lucky.

The comments about Fry and his partner were actually about their body language too, about the younger man looking bored.
He also wears rather odd clothes.

NanaDana I don’t think that I have seen any ageist comments; or anything unfavourable about Mr Fry in particular.

I don't think that age gaps are an issue, other than between the people concerned. It becomes an issue when there is a huge power imbalance, and when the young person is too young to make mature decisions.

It looks as though Schofield's PR has played a blinder. The 'poor me' narrative, the messed up hair and make-up free appearance, and the egregious use of Caroline Flack has left the media in a position where they have to bow to the blackmail implicit in the suicide threats, and public sympathy seems to be turning.

Scholfield mentioned paying the runner's legal costs as though that is magnanimous of him, but why would the boy need a lawyer at this stage? He won't be paying for an expensive PR team, will he? I would be interested to know if this representation is from the same lawyers as Schofield (which I assume is legal as this is not yet an adversarial situation). If that is the case, the implications are obvious.

Why not speak of Caroline Flack ? she suffered trial by media,

A 20 year old can’t make a mature decisions yet a 16 year old can choose to marry

I thought the mention of CF was cheap and unnecessary.

I speak of my daughter’s suicide , cheap and unnecessary I suppose, to some

I have refrained from posting as I have never watched the show and I have almost zero interest in Schofield and Willoughby.

What is interesting though is how the powers that be have thrown Schofield under a bus.

They were happy to turn a blind eye when viewing figures were high and S&W were national treasures.

They have not shown any care of duty, it has been a kangaroo court.

I hope the young man involved is receiving some kind of support, he must be going through hell.

Of course not Annie

Caroline Flack is irrelevant to Schofield’s narrative.
To bring her story into the media spotlight was an insult to her family and friends.
Fortunately for PS her mother has been sympathetic.
Caroline and her mother are yet more people (women?) that he is using and hiding behind.

Sago I agree with much of what you say.
I think that ITV and Schofield now have an arrangement where he takes all of the blame.

That’s not what I meant Annie. Fanny explains my meaning well.

No, Annie. You don't use your tragedy to gain advantage.

That is, of course why the man who taunted people like Kerry Katona on TV (and she has said that his interview with her affected her mental health very badly) brought up CF's suicide as a way of blackmailing the media into leaving him alone.

He was completely unconcerned about the people he taunted on his show, but when the spotlight is on him, he resorts to using someone else's personal tragedy to his own advantage.

Jodie Marsh is another one who Schofield humiliated.
She went onto This Morning to talk about freezing her eggs, and he asked lots of prurient and irrelevant questions about her sex life

Doodledog I agree about PS’s ‘clever’ PR strategy. As I said earlier, (12:03 yesterday), that interview should not have been allowed.
Innocent or guilty of offences he’s being accused of committing, I can’t see that doing a ‘pity me’ interview will help and certainly not if other things emerge.
Would we have allowed Jimmy Savile or Rolf Harris an opportunity for self justification?
Carolyn Flack’s mother is better placed than most of us on GN to know what impact trial by media can have.
(I’m sorry about your daughter Anniebach)

So why not just stick to the investigations, both of PS and the people behind the scenes who did nothing about what was reported. Time for a media frenzy when everything’s been revealed.
I do wonder why the people who reported what they saw going on, didn’t go to the media to get something done earlier if they thought they were being ignored.
If we suspected a teenager (male or female) was being groomed by an older man, we would press for something to be done, wouldn’t we?

No one remembers the criticism Kerry Katona received from the public and media for her slurred speech in that interview.

Well yes the public often do that, Kerry katona appears to be a deeply damaged person who sometimes causes damage to others.
The media reported that Catoline Flack was charged with a domestic assault. Should they not have reported that? Should that kind of assault be kept hidden.

Anniebach

No one remembers the criticism Kerry Katona received from the public and media for her slurred speech in that interview.

They do, Annie, which is why it should never have been allowed to go ahead. KK was very clearly vulnerable, and TM had a duty of care to her. The police can't interview someone under the influence for good reason, and her interview should have been pulled before it started.

I do wonder why the people who reported what they saw going on, didn’t go to the media to get something done earlier if they thought they were being ignored.
If we suspected a teenager (male or female) was being groomed by an older man, we would press for something to be done, wouldn’t we?
Well that is the crux of the matter, isn't it? People did complain, and were sacked or ignored. Schofield, for whatever reason, was treated as untouchable, and anyone who spoke against him suffered for their pains. With any luck, the enquiry will get to the bottom of why, but as it will be another case of the media investigating themselves, I think luck is what we will need.

There is much to truly understand here, media circus apart, including a whole culture surrounding various TV shows, but I'm not happy with comparisons with Jimmy Savile or Rolf Harris. They were long term evil predators on large numbers of vulnerable young people, and I don't think PS comes into that category.