Phillip Schofield devastated that rival Fern Britton didn’t text after he came out
Phillip Schofield has told in his new autobiography of his ‘heartbreak’ that Fern Britton didn’t get in touch with him after he came out as gay
Phillip Schofield has revealed his “heartbreak” that Fern Britton didn’t contact him after he came out as gay.
The TV presenter, 58, said that he had tried to “make it right” over the years but she had moved on and he “misses her deeply.”
He came out as gay in February and then did a highly emotional interview with his co-host Holly Willoughby live on This Morning just minutes later.
Writing in his new book Life’s What You Make It about Fern’s reaction, Phil says: “When I came out, she didn’t text me. She did text Steph though, which was really kind.”
Phillip claims that he and Fern had a row in a make-up room in 2009 over the content of a show – and he was “stunned” when she accused him of “meddling.”
He says: “I walked back into the make-up room and calmly said, ‘Please don’t do that to me again.’
“I think, for whatever reason, that was the point Fern decided she didn’t want to do This Morning any more.”
In the book Phil shed some light on their close bond before they fell out.
He even had a hilarious nickname for her – Minty Minge – that viewers never knew.
It came after Fern dropped a bottle of mint sauce on the floor and it went up her nightdress.
Phil started calling her Minty Minge, and would make her laugh on TV when he shortened it to ‘Minty’.
He added: “She made me roar when she said that once, she was closing a sash window whilst naked.
“She suddenly realized the next-door neighbour was looking up at her and immediately repeated the pose in front of the bedroom mirror to see how she looked!
“She thought she must have looked like the three of spades!”
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