Inside Philip Schofield and Fern Britton's bitter feud amid his fresh 'heartbreak'
Fern Britton co-hosted This Morning alongside Philip Schofield between 2002 and 2009 but it seems the pair are no longer close friends
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Philip Schofield and his This Morning co-host Fern Britton were the darlings of day time TV when they shared the sofa.
But following her departure from the hit ITV talk show in 2009, the pair's seemingly once close friendship appears to have turned sour.
In his poignant autobiography, Phil claims Fern didn't contact him when he came out as gay earlier this year - but did send a message to his wife, Steph.
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."
Phil publicly came out in an emotional interview with This Morning co-host and best friend, Holly Willoughby, in February after he posted a powerful post on Instagram.
He also addresses a row he had with Fern while they were both working on the mid-morning show.
Phil said: "I walked back into the makeup 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."
Fern and Phil's strained relationship was back in the spotlight two years ago when This Morning celebrated its 30th birthday.
She was invited onto the show to share her memories of working alongside Phil but things turned awkward when she claimed she hadn't been invited to the This Morning BAFTA ceremony.
Phil disputed this and made a jibe on Twitter about #memoryloss.
He wrote: "Odd really, because she was invited and declined #memoryloss we’d have loved her to be there. A vital and much loved part of the show."
Another journalist asked why Phil hadn't assumed that there had been "some time of miscommunication rather than making a jibe about '#memoryloss'."
Fern retweeted the comment, remarking: "No. I had no invitation to decline." It later emerged her agents had failed to give her the invitation after assuming she would be busy.
It was half way through Fern's two year £1.5million contract that she made the decision to hand in her notice on This Morning.
At the time, her friends claimed she felt "undervalued by ITV" and that she was "living in Phil's shadow".
There were also claims that she had found out she was being paid £250,000 a year less than her co-host.
In addition, there were also reports that Phil was earning three times Fern's salary when the duo were presenting Mr and Mrs together.
It was claimed he picked up £45,000 an hour while Fern earned £15,000.
Fern has denied that she made the decision to leave This Morning because of salaries.
She told Hello! magazine: “That certainly wasn’t true, not least because I had no idea what Phillip had been paid. I knew what I was being paid and it was more than fair.
"It is appalling that, if you are doing the same job as a man, you are paid less and I am absolutely all for equal pay but at the time, even if Phillip had been paid more than me, he was doing more programmes on television."
When she announced she was leaving This Morning, Fern simply addressed the whole This Morning team and didn't mention her co-host specifically.
And when Phil was interviewed four years later he admitted that he and Fern no longer chatted.
He told Heat in 2013: "No, not really. We were involved in the show and mates at the time, but we don't really. I see Phil [Fern's husband, chef Phil Vickery] when he's in 'This Morning'... But we're not in touch now."
Fern was also interviewed at the same time.
She said: "I always say Phillip and I had an indefinable chemistry which seemed to work well on-screen, she said. We 'got' each other. We enjoyed a laugh. And viewers seemed to warm to that.
"But, like Morecambe and Wise, we chose not to live in each other’s pockets. We were a great professional partnership but we never went on holiday together.
"I never discussed with Phillip what he and I were earning. I was happy doing the show and happy with my salary."
And in 2013, the same year, she wasn't at This Morning's 25th birthday celebrations.
Fern denied rumours she had been snubbed due to a feud with Phil and instead said it had simply been because she was busy.
However, in Phil's autobiography he recalls some of his fonder memories while hosting This Morning with Fern.
The Dancing On Ice presenter had a hilarious nickname for Fern - Minty Minge - that was an in joke between the two of them.
Phil came up with the moniker when Fern dropped a bottle of mint sauce on the floor and it went up her nightdress.
He even referred to Fern as Minty live on TV, which used to make her fall about laughing.
Phil explained: "She made me roar when she said that once, she was closing a sash window whilst naked.
"She suddenly realised 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!"
- Life's What You Make It by Phillip Schofield is out now
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