Wed. Nov 6th, 2024
alert-–-phillip-schofield’s-daughter-molly-says-she’s-‘proud-to-call-him-her-dad’-and-admits-she-‘never-thought-he’d-recover’-from-battle-with-suicidal-thoughts-after-this-morning-scandalAlert – Phillip Schofield’s daughter Molly says she’s ‘proud to call him her dad’ and admits she ‘never thought he’d recover’ from battle with suicidal thoughts after This Morning scandal

Phillip Schofield’s daughter Molly emotionally declares she’s ‘proud to call him her father’ in the final episode of his Cast Away series.

The former This Morning star, 62, stunned the nation when he revealed he would be making his TV comeback in the Channel 5 series, which sees him fend for himself for 10 days on a remote island paradise.

In the programme, Phillip’s daughters and his wife Stephanie Lowe discuss the impact of his affair admission, and subsequent ITV exit, for the first time.

In the third and final episode of the Cast Away series, which will air on Wednesday, Molly, 31, admits she ‘never thought’ Phillip would recover from his struggles with suicidal thoughts in the wake of the scandal.

In the episode’s final moments, Phillip returns from his time marooned on a desert island rejuvinated after a challenging 18 months.

Phillip Schofield 's daughter Molly emotionally declares she's 'proud to call him her father' in the final episode of his Cast Away series (pictured with the presenter in 2022)

Phillip Schofield ‘s daughter Molly emotionally declares she’s ‘proud to call him her father’ in the final episode of his Cast Away series (pictured with the presenter in 2022)

The former This Morning star stunned the nation when he revealed he would be making his TV comeback in the Channel 5 series

The former This Morning star stunned the nation when he revealed he would be making his TV comeback in the Channel 5 series

His daughter Molly then says: ‘Seeing him recover, we never thought that would happen. We never thought that would happen. So now he is where he is. It is the best thing ever, seeing how far he’s come. 

‘I am so incredibly proud to say he’s my dad, and I always will be, no matter what.’

Earlier in the series, Phillip spoke about how ‘dark’ his life became, and said his daughters helped him ‘take a step back from the edge’.

He said: ‘In the last 18 months it got as dark as it is possible to get. A year ago I got so so close. 

‘I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready and it was Molly that was looking after me, Molly and Ruby (daughters) both looking after me at the time and Molly said do you imagine what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull this off. 

‘Can you imagine what would happen and can you imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch? 

‘And that was enough just to take a step back from the edge. And I could have been hospitalised, I had the option to be hospitalised but I just thought that is going to get out so I raced to the family home.’

In 2020, Phillip shocked the country when he came out as gay, however, he and Stephanie stayed married – albeit separating later that year.

In the programme, Phillip's daughters and his wife Stephanie Lowe discuss the impact of his affair admission, and subsequent ITV exit, for the first time

In the programme, Phillip’s daughters and his wife Stephanie Lowe discuss the impact of his affair admission, and subsequent ITV exit, for the first time

Speaking in the first episode of Cast Away, set to air on Monday, Molly opened up about how hard the past few years had been on her family. 

She said: ‘What people don’t realise is that they batter you but then there are other people affected.’

Molly, who works as her father’s publicist, added: ‘We’ve seen him in his lowest times, but I’ve been so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him that when it’s taken away it’s just heartbreaking.’ 

‘Weirdly everything that’s happened recently has made us closer.’

‘When my dad came out, it was, it was very hard for me,’ Molly continued.

‘It was very hard for the entire family. Mainly my mum, of course, everything was turned upside down. But we talked through it and over time it’s got easier.’ 

Phillip secretly filmed Channel 5 special Cast Away, which required him to give up his home comforts for 10 days of soul-searching on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean

During the show, he will discuss his bitter parting of ways with ITV and This Morning, which he hosted for 21 years, while fending for himself on the island paradise, located off the coast of Madagascar.

His wife Stephanie’s world came crashing down when, in May 2023, it finally became public knowledge that Phillip had conducted a years-long affair with a much-younger male ITV colleague.

Earlier in the series, Phillip spoke about how 'dark' his life became, and said his daughters helped him 'take a step back from the edge'

Earlier in the series, Phillip spoke about how ‘dark’ his life became, and said his daughters helped him ‘take a step back from the edge’

Phil and Stephanie have never legally divorced with sources close to the couple saying previously that she ‘still loves him’ deeply and will always remain in his ‘support system’ with their daughters Molly and Ruby.

Phillip has not worked since he left This Morning in May 2023 shortly before the affair was revealed. His co-host and once close friend, Holly Willoughby, later left herself, with Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard taking over their roles.

Phillip quit ITV entirely after admitting he had lied to the Daily Mail about his the affair. 

Friends of the star were ‘quite certain’ he would never work again following his admission, but Channel 5 changed this.

One said at the time: ‘Phillip has been very, very down recently. He doesn’t know how he is going to work again. It’s devastating for him to realise but he also knows that there is not a lot he can do about it. He doesn’t know who will take him. He knows there is no way back to ITV or the BBC.’

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Inside Phillip Schofield's 16-month break from TV as he announces return for C5's Cast Away

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Sources close to Schofield say that his friends are trying to encourage him to think he can have a ‘fulfilling life’ away from showbusiness.

One said: ‘Just because he may not be on telly again doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy his life. Phil isn’t so sure though.’

Before the Channel 5 gig, Phillip was tipped for a job on national radio – his ‘first love’ – with Britain’s largest commercial stations said to be jostling to bring him in to woo new listeners from rivals, including BBC Radio 2.

An ITV report in December 2023 cleared bosses of a cover-up of the affair and did not mention any further damaging claims about Schofield’s relationship with a young runner on the show.

Despite claims of a ‘whitewash’, industry insiders told that it opens the door to the star getting a new big-money deal to return to work in 2024. 

But a senior British broadcasting source said a return to TV for Mr Schofield is ‘unlikely – for now’. 

Schofield is said to have turned down a selection of big money TV offers before choosing to sign up for Cast Away – which he believes will allow him to share his story in an ‘unedited and honest’ way. 

Phillip Schofield: Cast Away airs on Monday 30th September, Tuesday October 1 and Wednesday October 2 at 9pm on Channel 5. 

Phillip Schofield Cast Away: The critics’ verdicts are in

Daily Mail 

Rating:

Roland White writes: ‘By far the most entertainment to be had from last night’s episode of Cast Away (C5) was imagining the meeting which persuaded Phillip Schofield that it was a good idea to take part.

‘This could really put you back in the public eye, Phillip love,’ they might have said. ‘Because what people really want to watch these days is a big celebrity feeling sorry for themselves for an hour’.

‘Only an hour? It felt a lot longer. This could be the biggest television misjudgment since Prince Andrew smiled across at Emily Maitlis and said: ‘That went well, didn’t it?’

Evening Standard 

Rating:

Vicky Jessop writes: ‘There’s no attempt at balance here, not even from the producers. This is the Schofield Show, and we’re just along for the ride. Schofield himself expresses hardly any remorse, settling instead for a sort of barely-concealed resentment at his perceived ill-treatment at the hands of the press and public. And while it might make for fascinating television, it’s doubtful that this is going to hasten along any kind of return to the small screen.

‘Instead, this just reads as a desperate grab for public redemption. Queasy viewing, best avoided.’

The Guardian 

Rating:

Stuart Heritage writes: ‘Whatever you think of the man, you do have to grudgingly admit that the parts where he carries out the actual premise of the show – on an island, sunburned to hell, trying to Go-Pro himself boiling limpets for sustenance – are pretty entertaining.

‘However (and this is a big however), the man absolutely cannot help himself. It’s one thing to fend for yourself in the middle of nowhere, quite another to do it without acting like the most bitter man ever to walk the Earth. And make no mistake, Schofield is an incredibly bitter man. 

‘Before he even leaves his house, he’s comparing Cast Away to I’m a Celebrity, darkly muttering that he would never appear on that show because “there are just some channels, some people you won’t work for.”’

The Times 

Rating:

Carol Midgley writes: ‘Did Schofield seem bitter or self-pitying as he prepared to spend ten days alone except for a camera on an uninhabited tropical island off the coast of Madagascar? Yes! “I think there’ll be an awful lot of people who hope that I never come back,” he said, melodramatically. 

‘I hate to say it, Phillip, but most people have probably forgotten all about it and are more worried about their gas bill. “I know what I did was unwise,” he said, sitting cross-legged on a beach “but is it enough to absolutely someone?”

‘I’m no fan of Schofield, but I don’t think it is, actually. Both parties were, it seems, consenting adults. Schofield was publicly lauded when he came out as gay but vilified when he actually had a gay relationship, the charge being that it was an “abuse of power”‘

i News 

Rating:

Emily Baker writes: ‘The jungle survival part of the programme was nothing we hadn’t seen before – comedian Ruby Wax endured the same experiment for Channel 5 last year, while Bear Grylls and co have been showcasing their own survival skills on screen for years. 

‘Watching Schofield fish, start a fire and search for mangoes was much less interesting than what he had to say for himself. Plus, he hadn’t exactly been abandoned – his survival kit included a tent, knives, cooking equipment. He was not Tom Hanksing it. 

‘Obviously – and depressingly – he came off incredibly well. Stories of his late father (who he sometimes speaks to, aloud), memories of feeling suicidal and his daughters pulling him from the brink, and ribbing himself (“I don’t quit – I’m fired, but I don’t quit”) all forced me to warm to him. But I shouldn’t have been surprised – the entire point of this series is to prime us for a Schofield renaissance.’

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