08 September 2023 , 14:44
1260
0
Alison Hammond has opened up on her emotional reaction to Phillip Schofield's departure from This Morning.
The TV presenter broke down in tears on the ITV show when they finally addressed Phillip's shock exit. Phillip quit This Morning amid rumours of a feud with Holly Willoughby and later ITV all together after admitting to having an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger colleague. His co-stars addressed the scandal when the former Dancing On Ice presenter finally broke his silence as he gave a series of bombshell interviews.
Opening the ITV show in June, Dermot O'Leary announced that Phillip's interviews were the "big story of the day" and that they "didn't want to shy away from it". "It's been very difficult for us to cover this story," Dermot admitted. "He's a friend and a colleague." Dermot and Alison were joined by guests Gyles Brandreth and Sonia Sodha, and the four of them gave their thoughts on the situation.
Alison broke down when she spoke of Phil's departure (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Alison became visibly emotional as she began to cry and said: "I'm finding it really painful, I loved Phillip Schofield, it's weird because I still love Phillip Schofield, however, what he's done is wrong. He's admitted it, he's said sorry, as a family, we're all really struggling to process everything I never know what to say. I remember what my mom said, my mom always said 'use your Bible as your satnav in life Al, in the Bible it says 'he without sin, casts the first stone,' I don't want to say anything bad because I'm in conflict."
The former Big Brother star has since addressed the emotion she felt on that day. Appearing on This Morning colleague Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, he recalled: "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 stone. She had all of these sayings at her fingertips, didn’t she?"
Phillip Schofield mocks Molly-Mae's baby name in cruel swipe at Love Island star
Alison replied: "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. She was very with her bible. She used to read her bible every single night and would go to church every week." The This Morning host and co-star Dermot also addressed claims the show was a "toxic environment", as they revealed they "love" working on the programme.
Opening the programme, Dermot said: "We know we have been in the news at the moment. But just from both of us, and the whole team here, the crew, the guys downstairs, we love making this show for all of you." Alison added: "We really do and that's exactly what we're gonna do - we're continuing to do that." Regular guest Gyles Brandreth, who was on the sofa, added: "We're very happy to be here, can I say that? This is a happy place to work, I enjoy coming in here. We are happy people in a happy place with interesting stories."