Phillip Schofield's 'starkers' proposal to wife Steph is not what you'd expect
Phillip Schofield's love life has hit the headlines over the past few weeks after he admitted to having had an affair with a younger male employee at ITV before announcing he was gay in 2020.
The former This Morning star is still married to his wife Stephanie Lowe and continues to wear his wedding ring three years on from their split. Steph has also been spotted with her diamond engagement ring, which Phil gave her while "starkers"!
Opening up about his surprise Christmas proposal, he told his former co-host Holly Willoughby: "I proposed to Steph in an advent calendar." He explained that the ring "was in an advent calendar and you could put your own thing into the little boxes. I put in some bath salts and cheap things just for every day.
"Then on the given day I’d chosen I put the engagement ring in and when she opened it I hopped out of bed starkers and got down on one knee."
Is Phillip Schofield still married?
Phil and Steph met while he was working on children's television and she was a BBC production assistant, and they got married at Scotland's Ackergill Tower in 1993.
DISCOVER: Everything Holly Willoughby has said about the This Morning’s Phillip Schofield drama
Following 27 years of marriage and two children, Phil admitted he was gay in 2020, but the former couple did not immediately get divorced. On his podcast How To Wow in October 2020, Chris Evans asked the star how long he plans to wear his wedding ring, and he replied: "That is a very good question, Chris. I don't know. Because I am still married to Steph."
After praising his wife's "strength and support" while he came to terms with his sexuality, the TV star made a public apology to Steph as he confessed to his affair in May 2023. Phillip wrote: "I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago. The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning.
"I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning. Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
"When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody 'forced' me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me."
He continued: "In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven't been truthful about the relationship. But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
"I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife."
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