Holly Willoughby ‘DID know about Phillip Schofield’s affair – everyone did’, James Haskell claims

HOLLY Willoughby “did know about Phillip Schofield’s affair – everyone did”, James Haskell has claimed.

The former England rugby player, 37, claimed that Schofield’s involvement with a “much younger” This Morning worker was an open secret.

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Holly has strongly denied knowing anything about Schofield’s affair – blasting her co-star for his “lies”.

Schofield also told The Sun that Holly did not know about the affair, which happened while he was still married – and says he is sorry for lying to her.

But Haskell, the son-in-law of former This Morning presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, made the bombshell claim during an appearance on the Jeremy Vine show.

He said: “I knew about this years ago, of course she knows. Everybody knows.”

“She asked, ‘Are you ok?’ A bloke off the TV cheated on his wife, I think I’ll survive, I think I’ll live. This is 2023 in a nutshell.”

Myleene Klass, who was on the show with Haskell, said: “I think it’s a case of the conversations that happen on that sofa, these are people who are trusted and welcomed into our house.”

It comes after Holly returned to This Morning for the first time since Schofield’s shock exit on Monday.

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The presenter returned from her £8million holiday villa in Portugal to front the crisis-hit show and address the scandal.

HOLLY’S RETURN

Flanked by her stand-in co-host Josie Gibson, Holly put on a brave face to address Phillip’s exit in a specially prepared statement at the beginning of today’s show.

She said:”Firstly, are you OK? I hope so. It feels very strange indeed not being here with Phillip.

“I imagine you might have been feeling a lot like I have. Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the well-being of people from all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions.

“You me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who they themselves felt they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved.”

Schofield quit ITV after the affair with the male employee was exposed.

It’s understood the younger man, who was a teen when he met Schofield, is not a public figure and did not want the relationship to be revealed.

In a statement, Schofield said he’s “deeply sorry” for the affair which he said was “unwise, but not illegal”.

He said: “I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague.

“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.”