Phillip Schofield mourned his beloved mother Pat today as the former This Morning presenter attended her funeral nearly four weeks after her death aged 88.
Patricia Schofield, who supported her son following his high-profile ITV exit in May 2023, was remembered in a service in her hometown of Newquay, Cornwall.
Mourners attending the ‘celebration of her life’ at St Michael’s Church from 3pm on Friday afternoon were encouraged to ‘dress brightly to reflect a life filled with love’.
Phillip, who was accompanied by his wife, Stephanie, and two daughters – Molly and Ruby – was seen carrying a wicker coffin topped with a beautiful floral display.
The broadcaster’s brother, Timothy, is serving time in prison for child sex offences and was not present.
Mrs Schofield, who was originally from Oldham in Greater Manchester, ‘passed away peacefully’ surrounded by her family on October 14, according to a funeral notice.
The family also expressed their thanks to the critical care team at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske and paramedics from South Western Ambulance Service.
The medics were said to have shown ‘kindness and care’ to Mrs Schofield and her family, and mourners were encouraged to donate to the charity Diabetes UK.
Following his mother’s death, Schofield said he ‘held her, loved her, and hugged her’ before she passed away – and that she died after a ‘heartbreaking weekend’.
Schofield did not reveal her cause of death, but also shared a throwback picture of himself smiling as he lovingly placed his arm around his mothers’ shoulders.
Accompanying the photo on Instagram, he wrote: ‘Over three days we held her, loved her, hugged her and said everything that needed to be said.
‘She was calm, peaceful, beautiful and dignified. I will forever be proud and privileged that she was my mum.’
He also gave his ‘eternal thanks’ to the paramedics, and the team at Royal Cornwall Hospital who were ‘in the past and this weekend my mum’s and our angels’.
Describing her as a ‘magnificent mum’, he signed off the post with a heartbroken emoji alongside the words: ‘I love you mum, forever.’
Mrs Schofield’s death came 16 years after Schofield’s father Brian died aged 72 in 2008 after suffering a heart attack.
Last month Schofield returned to the spotlight for the Channel 5 television show Cast Away, during which he fended for himself on a remote island for ten days.
The three-part show was Schofield’s first TV work since losing his lucrative role with ITV following what he described as a ‘consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague’.
Schofield married his wife Stephanie Lowe in 1993. He revealed he was gay in 2020 and separated from Stephanie, although they remained legally married.
At the time, Schofield drove to Cornwall to tell her his mother he was about to come out, and she later described his decision as ‘brave’ and ‘inspiring’, adding: ‘I don’t care.’
Schofield said last year he had ‘lost everything’ after admitting to his ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a younger male colleague, and that the fallout had had a ‘catastrophic effect’ on his mind.
When he resigned, Schofield denied that he had been ‘forced out’ and said he was ‘so very, very sorry’ for lying to the channel, his colleagues, wife and friends.
Phillip Schofield returned to the spotlight last month for Channel 5 television show Cast Away
But during Cast Away, he said the ‘utter betrayal’ by his television colleagues made him never want to be a daytime presenter again, adding that he was ‘chucked under a bus’ and could do the same to others, but is ‘not that sort of person’.
An external review, revealed last December, found that ITV made ‘considerable efforts’ to find out the truth about an alleged relationship between him and a runner on This Morning in 2019 but was ‘unable to uncover the relevant evidence’ until the presenter’s own admission in late May 2023.
Carried out by Jane Mulcahy KC, and commissioned by ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall, Schofield ‘reluctantly declined’ to take part because of ‘the risk to his health’.
Holly Willoughby, who was a co-host of This Morning with Schofield for more than a decade, left the daytime programme in October 2023. Schofield had hosted the show since 2002.
In June last year, Schofield held a vigil by his mother’s bedside after she fell seriously ill with an unknown condition and spent several days in hospital.
It came weeks after Mrs Schofield’s other son Timothy Schofield was sentenced to 12 years in prison at Bristol Crown Court in May of that year for sexually abusing a teenage boy.
He had been found guilty in the April of 11 sexual offences involving a child between 2016 and 2019, and was sacked from his job as a civilian worker for Avon and Somerset Police.
Schofield said following Timothy’s conviction: ‘As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother.’
He visited his mother to support while Timothy was being sentenced – and, on the same day, he was told by his manager that ‘it has become too loud for ITV’ and he was going to lose his job.
It was then Schofield’s turn to seek support from his mother, and they were seen hugging on a bench overlooking the sea in Newquay.
Schofield previously revealed how his mother and brother were both diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes within six months of one another.
In 2017, Mrs Schofield fulfilled a lifelong ambition as she went on a wing walk for her 81st birthday to raise money for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, with her son filming her from the ground in footage later shown on This Morning.