Latest news with #JoshuaLukeSharman
Daily Mail
14-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Is Phillip Schofield's bachelor lifestyle a sign that divorce is on the cards? What that boozy afternoon out with male friend, 30, says about his 32-year marriage to VERY loyal wife Stephanie
As Phillip Schofield staggered on to the street after a boozy afternoon out, clutching a vape with one hand and the waist of his male companion with the other, he looked every inch the carefree bachelor. The beleaguered former presenter was accompanied by male friend Joshua Luke Sharman, a London based nurse, during an visit to the city's first LGBTQ + dedicated cinema, the Arzner Bar & Cafe in Bermondsey. With summer temperatures soaring, Schofield, 63, looked somewhat worse for wear, but fortunately, the former This Morning star had Sharman - who describes himself as a 'nurse, academic, inexperienced aviator and clueless but optimistic PhD candidate' - on hand as a supportive and stabilising presence. Schofield's wife Stephanie Lowe - the other supportive and stabilising presence in his life, for altogether different reasons - appeared to be absent as he walked arm-in-arm with Sharman across Bermondsey Square. To all intents and purposes, the star - who came out as gay more than five years ago - looked like a carefree single man during his latest public appearance on Tuesday, despite his 23-year marriage to Stephanie. His loyal wife previously insisted she would fully support her husband's 'brave step' and 'stand by his side' as he publicly announced his sexuality during a live appearance on This Morning. But with Schofield now living as an openly gay man, one cannot help but wonder if - or indeed when - the amicable couple might finalise an equally amicable divorce. Schofield was 25-years old and a fresh faced children's TV presenter when he met Stephanie, at the time a production assistant for CBBC. Six years later they were married, with the happy couple exchanging vows in appropriately romantic surroundings at the 16th century, Class A listed Ackergill Tower, located in Sinclair's Bay on Scotland's rugged northern coast. The responsibilities of parenthood would soon follow; already pregnant on her wedding day, Stephanie welcomed the couple's first child - daughter Molly - just four months later, in July 1993. Second child Ruby followed in 1996, the arrival coinciding with a transitional period for Schofield, who had branched into mainstream TV presenting and West End musical theatre after endearing himself to millions as the face of CBBC and Saturday morning kids show Going Live! Stephanie meanwhile, was an ever present, the supportive and loyal wife pictured alongside her husband at showbiz soirees and red carpet events as his career went from strength to strength. And little appears to have changed, despite Schofield - whose TV career appears to be in ruins - later admitting he cheated on his her with a younger male colleague while host of ITV daytime flagship This Morning, a role he occupied for 21 years before his departure in 2023. The downturn began in 2020, when Schofield - supported by This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby - announced in a tearful address to viewers that he is gay Schofield later admitted he was suicidal during the bitter fallout that ensued, but still had the valued support of his wife and two children. However, insiders painted a more complicated picture of the family dynamic, which revealed their pulling together was a matter of more than just family loyalty. 'After so long together, Steph and Phil are co-dependent. They would rather be a united front and stay together', an insider told Daily Mail in 2024, adding that if they broke up it would 'create even more drama' for them and their daughters. Another friend said: 'They still love each other. It's that simple'. Schofield's career imploded as his infidelity with an ITV staff-member came to light, as did his once rock solid friendship with co-host Holly Willoughby, to whom he lied about the affair. Just four years earlier Willoughby had comforted the emotional presenter live on air as he confirmed his sexuality in a tearful address to millions of viewers, but the writing appeared to be on the wall after Schofield's infidelity was exposed. Regardless, loyal Stephanie remained a tower of strength for her under-fire husband. 'I love Phillip, as much today as I ever have, and always will,' she told The Sun at the time. 'We've been awestruck by the strength and love of our precious girls, even as they've been trying to make sense of it all for themselves. Our family have also been so supportive and will help us going forward. 'Although this is difficult for us all, I support Phillip in taking this brave step. I will still be there, holding his hand. Everyone should be proud to live their own truth.' The couple's enduring closeness was well in evidence last year, when the Schofields allowed Channel 5 cameras into their Oxfordshire home for his warts-and-all docuseries, Phillip Schofield: Cast Away. Schofield, facing an uncertain professional future after leaving This Morning under a ruinously black cloud, was tasked with the unenviable challenge of living alone on a remote tropical island for ten days, where he would 'face the challenges of life in isolation.' But not before bidding farewell to his loved ones over a boozy lunch, during which viewers were given a unique insight into his relationship with Stephanie and their daughters. '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,' said Molly, who now works as her father's publicist, in a scene from the show. 'Weirdly everything that's happened recently has made us closer. When my dad came out, it was, it was very hard for me. '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.' She added: 'My mum, my sister, we're all the same we will always continued to support him no matter what. And I never thought it would have gone the way it has but to have my parents still best friends. I'm the luckiest person ever.' In the first episode, Schofield told how he had 'everything in place' for a suicide attempt, but decided against it when his eldest daughter Molly persuaded him not to. He said: 'In the last eighteen 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.' He explained: 'Molly and Ruby 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?' 'That was just enough, just enough to take a step back from the edge. I could have been hospitalised, I just raced to the family home and shut the gates and I was in there.' He later paid tribute to his wife, Molly and his youngest daughter Ruby, adding: 'Without them, I wouldn't be here.' Schofield's return to television on Cast Away cames 16 months after he was forced to apologise to the Mail for lying about his affair with his former This Morning colleague. But during the programme, he addressed the relationship, saying: 'It's like the biggest grenade going off in your life. You know you let people down, you know you've let yourself down. 'It was an unwise and unprofessional thing to do. I will be forever sorry. I screwed up. I made a mistake, and I hurt the people around me.' Indeed, but what now for the Schofields? If history has told us anything, it tells us that love, however flawed, can weather any storm. Only time will tell if it lasts.
Daily Mail
12-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Phillip Schofield, 63, stumbles out of a bar with a 30-year-old male companion in London... while carefree Holly Willoughby lives it up in Portugal
Worse-for-wear Phillip Schofield got cosy with a bleary-eyed male pal on Saturday - while his ex-friend Holly Willoughby was enjoying a wholesome time in Portugal. The ex This Morning presenter, 63, helped prop up his friend, London-based nurse Joshua Luke Sharman, 30, as they emerged from London's first LGBTQ + dedicated cinema Arzner Bar & Cafe in Bermondsey at 7pm where the duo looked to stumble their way out. In a stark contrast to his raucous day, his former best friend and ex co-host Holly was showing off her chilled out time in Portugal - where their families previously holidayed together prior to their public fall-out in the wake of Phillip's fall from grace. Phillip, who came out as gay in February 2020 on the magazine show, has stepped back from the spotlight after departing This Morning in 2023 in the wake of an affair with a 20-year-old runner, which he branded 'unwise but not illegal'. During his day out Phillip and handsome Joshua, whose Instagram shows his celebrity friends including Sally Lindsay and Gok Wan, got up close while sharing a cosy cuddle before nuzzling into one another. The former This Morning presenter, 63, was supported by his pal, London-based nurse Joshua Luke Sharman, as they emerged from a restaurant where the star looked to stumble on his way out The couple made no secret of their PDA while wrapping around one another in the street The duo appeared to have had a fun-filled lunch Clad in a blue polo shirt and shorts, Joshua appeared to need his assistance in walking before enjoying a cosy cuddle in the street. Phillip is not the only star on Joshua's radar, as he appears to be firm pals with Gok, with whom he is often pictured on Instagram. Holly and Phillip's friendship fell apart after his affair came to light and later things broke down irretrievably after she discovered what his brother had told him about engaging in a sex act with a boy, Daily Mail revealed last year. The extent of the former This Morning presenters' bitter feud was exposed when Phil made his TV comeback in Channel 5 series Cast Away in October, in which he referred to Holly as 'one of the three s***s of showbiz'. The disgraced host accused Holly of 'betrayal' after suggesting she helped to orchestrate his departure from the ITV show because they thought his brother's trial and Phillip's affair with a young showrunner were both bad for her 'brand'. Holly had previously vented her frustration at Phillip's lies when he tried to deny he was having an affair with the showrunner, before eventually coming clean by releasing a bombshell statement to the Daily Mail in May 2023. He said: 'I am making this statement via the Daily Mail, to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story [sic] which they wanted to write about me a few days ago. 'The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning. The duo both clutched vapes as they stumbled out of their lunch 'Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than a just a friendship. 'That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over… 'I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife... 'I am resigning from ITV with immediate effect, expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me. 'I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it.' The star, who has been married to Stephanie Lowe since 1993, has not publically confirmed any romance since the admission of his affair. At the time of his departure from This Morning, it was reported that Steph had been left 'devastated' by the revelation and angry that her husband had lied to her. However, it was later revealed she is choosing not to file for divorce because she does not want him to 'fall any further' then he already has, and despite everything, 'the love is still very much there.' As well as the breakdown of his marriage, Schofield's relationship with co-host Holly Willoughby faltered in the midst of the scandal, with the pair understood to be at loggerheads. His daughter Molly is now his publicist after she quit the talent agency that once represented her father. Phillip; insisted he had not 'groomed' his young lover, despite first meeting him when he was 15. He said: 'Attraction is attraction. It's no different in the gay world as it is in the heterosexual world or in the lesbian world. 'There shouldn't be a difference. This is where homophobia comes in. We did first meet when he was 15, I visited the drama school [he attended].' He said the fallout from his admission that he lied about his affair with a younger male colleague had been 'relentless', revealing he has had suicidal thoughts. Schofield said: 'My girls saved my life. They said last week they haven't left me for a moment. They've been by my side every moment because they're scared to let me out of their sight. What is that like for daughters to have to go with something like that? 'And they said to me, "Don't you dare do this on our watch. We're supposed to be looking after you." If my girls hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here, because I don't see my future.'
Daily Mail
12-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Phillip Schofield, 63, appears worse-for-wear as he supports bleary-eyed male companion, 30, and gets cosy in the street following London lunch
Phillip Schofield appeared worse for wear after enjoying lunch with a male companion with whom he put on a cosy display in London on Saturday. The former This Morning presenter, 63, was supported by his pal, London-based nurse Joshua Luke Sharman, 30, as they emerged from a restaurant where the star looked to stumble on his way out. Following their departure from the eatery, Phillip and handsome Joshua got up close while sharing a cosy cuddle before nuzzling into one another. Clad in a blue polo shirt and shorts, he appeared to need Joshua's assistance in walking before enjoying a cosy cuddle in the street. Phillip, who came out as gay in February 2020 on the magazine show, has stepped back from the spotlight after departing This Morning in 2023 in the wake of an affair with a 20-year-old runner, which he branded 'unwise but not illegal'. The pair were getting hot and heavy in the street with no regard to who saw their intimate moment The former This Morning presenter, 63, was supported by his pal, London-based nurse Joshua Luke Sharman, as they emerged from a restaurant where the star looked to stumble on his way out The star, who has been married to Stephanie Lowe since 19933, has not publically confirmed any romance since the admission of his affair. At the time of his departure from This Morning, it was reported that Steph had been left 'devastated' by the revelation and angry that her husband had lied to her. However, it was later revealed she is choosing not to file for divorce because she does not want him to 'fall any further' then he already has, and despite everything, 'the love is still very much there.' As well as the breakdown of his marriage, Schofield's relationship with co-host Holly Willoughby faltered in the midst of the scandal, with the pair understood to be at loggerheads. His daughter Molly is now his publicist after she quit the talent agency that once represented her father. Phillip; insisted he had not 'groomed' his young lover, despite first meeting him when he was 15. He said: 'Attraction is attraction. It's no different in the gay world as it is in the heterosexual world or in the lesbian world. 'There shouldn't be a difference. This is where homophobia comes in. We did first meet when he was 15, I visited the drama school [he attended].' He said the fallout from his admission that he lied about his affair with a younger male colleague had been 'relentless', revealing he has had suicidal thoughts. Schofield said: 'My girls saved my life. They said last week they haven't left me for a moment. They've been by my side every moment because they're scared to let me out of their sight. What is that like for daughters to have to go with something like that? 'And they said to me, "Don't you dare do this on our watch. We're supposed to be looking after you." If my girls hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here, because I don't see my future.'
