Alison Hammond has explained what sparked her emotional response to speaking about Phillip Schofield’s exit from This Morning.
Back in May, Schofield, 61, announced he was leaving his role as one of the long-time hosts of the ITV breakfast programme after admitting to an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a much younger colleague.
In the aftermath his colleagues spoke about his exit, with Alison, 48, breaking down in tears on air and saying she was finding it all ‘painful’ following his bombshell interview with the BBC.
Speaking about seeing Schofield explain how he believed he ‘wouldn’t be here’ without the support of his family, Alison recalled some advice from her late mum, Maria, who told her to ‘use the bible as your sat nav,’ and remember ‘those without sin cast the first stone.’
Now a few months later Alison has spoken more about her decision to quote the bible in that moment.
While appearing on the latest episode of This Morning colleague Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, the host asked Alison about why she decided to say what she did at the time.
‘I remember when we were on This Morning some time ago and talking about Phillip Schofield and all that and you rightly said on air when we were talking about what happened… you were quoting the bible, and you said the lines of your mother about sins and casting stones,’ he said.
‘She had all of these sayings at her fingertips, didn’t she?’ he asked.
‘Yes, she read the bible all the time and she used to speak it to us as well and use it and if we had any problems she would give us a learning from it,’ Alison responded.
‘She was very with her bible.
‘She used to read her bible every single night and would go to church every week.’
When speaking about Schofield on air, Alison had said she was struggling to reckon with her feelings.
‘I’m finding this really painful,’ she revealed. ‘I loved Phillip Schofield. It’s weird because I still love Phillip Schofield.’
She added that she knew what he did wasn’t right but was ‘conflicted’.
‘However, what he’s done is wrong. He’s admitted it. He’s said sorry. As a family, we’re really struggling to process everything. I never know what to say,’ she continued.
Later she added: ‘There’s only so much any man can take, and I don’t want any death in this situation.’
Also appearing on the show that day, Gyles, 75, said it was a ‘human story’.
Explaining the nature of his relationship with the colleague a few months ago, Schofield said they had met when the young man was 15, but the affair only began when he was 20 years old.
However, Schofield did acknowledge he lied about the nature of their relationship to his bosses and colleagues.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
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