Eamonn Holmes: We were lied to about Philip Schofield’s coming out on ‘This Morning’ and to this day we are embarrassed and ashamed

​In the second part of a no-holds-barred interview with Dan Wooton on GB News which was aired last night he said: “I’m driving in [to present a normal show], I’m told Philip will be coming in to appear on the programme but we can’t tell you why… he will have something to say. I’m thinking, oh good, I hope he’s going, hurrah.”

He continued: “He comes into our dressing room and he falls down on his knees – the acting is amazing – he falls down on his knees crying… I said to him, ‘what’s the matter?’ [he says] ‘I’m gay, I’m gay’. I said, ‘is that all? What is this?’ I thought that he killed a child or something.

"I pulled him up and I said ‘what are you talking about, so you’re guy?’

"That tied into a lot of things that maybe you may have heard. I think that anybody to be imprisoned in a life that isn't true to them would be totally wrong.

"We were very supportive. We said, ‘we’ll stand by you’.”

Holmes said he felt “used” that morning claiming it was “choreographed” given the amount of senior ITV figures present along with The Sun newspaper.

He said: “We were beginning to feel this wasn’t our show at all. It had been planned for some time.

"It materialises all is not as it seems because he has obviously done a deal with the newspaper to give a version of what the newspaper knew.

"It was all a bit weird.

"At that stage though I believed that he was gay and he was coming out, that’s the information we were given.

"We were lied to and Ruth and I to this day are embarrassed and ashamed when we see those pictures, when we see the toils of some people who are tortured by their sexuality have to go through and this man – was this a cover up for something else which does not reflect well on him, bearing in mind his brother is now a convicted paedophile.

"We feel angry about that, we feel used.”

Holmes had earlier said in the first part of the interview on GB News Holly Willoughby should follow Phillip Schofield “out the door” of ‘This Morning’, Eamonn

Holmes, who previously presented ITV's flagship daytime show on Fridays with wife Ruth Langsford, predicted that Willoughby will not return to the sofa following Schofield's bombshell exit.

Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague.

The relationship took place while the TV star was still married to wife Stephanie Lowe and before he came out publicly.

Following Schofield's resignation, the show has been plagued by allegations of “toxicity”.

Willoughby is due to return to the show on Monday, June 5 after the half-term break, having taken an early holiday when news of Schofield's departure emerged.

On Saturday, ITV said it investigated the affair rumour in early 2020 but Schofield “categorically” denied it was true.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Schofield hit back at his critics, saying there was “no toxicity” on ‘This Morning’.

He added: “I hope you have noticed that it's the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.”

Schofield has declined to comment on the claims following the interview with Wooton on GB News.