Alison Hammond has revealed what triggered her emotional reaction while discussing Phillip Schofield’s departure from This Morning.
Schofield, 61, revealed in May that he was leaving his post as a long-time anchor of the ITV breakfast show after confessing to a ‘unwise but not criminal’ romance with a considerably younger colleague.
In the aftermath, his colleagues discussed his departure, with Alison, 48, breaking down in tears on live and admitting it was all ‘traumatic’ after his bombshell interview with the BBC.
After hearing Schofield describe how he thought he ‘wouldn’t be here’ without the support of his family, Alison recalled some advice from her late mother, Maria, who urged her to ‘use the bible as your sat nav,’ and to remember that ‘those without sin throw the first stone.’
Alison has now spoken more about her decision to cite the Bible at that time.
On the most recent edition of This Morning colleague Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, Alison was questioned why she said 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.’
Alison had stated on live that she was fighting to reconcile her feelings towards Schofield.
‘I’m finding this really painful,’ she revealed. ‘I loved Phillip Schofield. It’s weird because I still love Phillip Schofield.’
She went on to say that she recognised what he did was wrong but was ‘conflicted’ about it.
‘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.’
Gyles, who was also on the show that day, described it as a “human story.”
Schofield explained the nature of his connection with the coworker a few months ago, saying they met when the young guy was 15, but the romance began when he was 20.
Schofield did admit, however, that he misled to his supervisors and coworkers about the nature of their connection.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
