Phillip Schofield addresses row with Fern Britton that caused her to quit This Morning
This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield has addressed a row that happened before former co-presenter Fern Britton exited the daytime TV show.
Fern fronted the show alongside Phillip until 2009, before being replaced by Holly Willoughby, though Phillip has shed more light on their falling out ahead of her quitting.
Writing in his new autobiography Life's What You Make It, Phillip claims he and Fern had a row in 2009 that he believes led her to quit, the presenter recalling that he was "stunned" when she accused him of "meddling" in the show's content.
"I walked back into the makeup room and calmly said, 'Please don't do that to me again,'" he writes (via The Mirror). "I think, for whatever reason, that was the point Fern decided she didn't want to do This Morning any more."
Digital Spy has reached out to Fern's representatives for comment.
Fern addressed her decision to leave This Morning earlier this year, saying she had stopped enjoying working on the show and was unhappy over the way she was being treated.
"I began not to enjoy it so much and the morning I resigned, I didn't know I was going to resign," she said on The Ray D'Arcy Show in July. "Something happened and I just thought, 'That's it really' and I walked away and resigned. I was treated pretty poorly, actually. And after a while I just thought, 'Sod it'.
"There was also a persistent rumour that I left because Phillip was being paid more than me and I always say to people, 'Why would I leave a show to go to nothing if I was worried about money?'"
Elsewhere in his book, Phillip claims that Fern did not contact with him after he came out as gay earlier this year, claiming that he had tried to "make it right" after their falling out over the years.
"When I came out, she didn't text me," he says. "She did text [wife] Steph though, which was really kind."
Phillips Schofield's autobiography Life's What You Make It is available now. This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV.
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Watch: AWKS! Philip Schofield called out by This Morning viewer for refusing autograph
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