Fern Britton has given her verdict on Phillip Schofield’s fall from grace amid decades of feud rumours between them, admitting she has ‘mixed emotions’ about the shamed presenter.
Fern Britton says Phillip Schofield’s fall from grace left her with ‘mixed emotions’ after working alongside him for seven years on This Morning. “It brought up a lot of mixed emotions.
“The years we worked together were mostly great fun and we were a very good partnership which I can remember with fondness,” 67-year-old Fern told Saga Magazine, despite years of feud rumours between the pair.
Fern quit This Morning back in 2009, with Phillip claiming in his 2020 autobiography that the pair had a fallout over This Morning’s content, describing their relationship as ‘beyond repair’.
Three years later, Phillip, 63, stepped down from This Morning as it was uncovered he had an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a young show runner, following months of rumours he was embroiled in a feud with co-presenter Holly Willoughby.
And while many assume there’s no love lost between the shamed presenter and Fern, she had only kind words to say of Phillip. “I knew how much he loved his job and cared deeply for his public perception. It must have been a terribly difficult time for him and his family,” said Fern.
Since leaving This Morning, Phillip subsequently left his presenting role on Dancing On Ice and has steered away from the spotlight – other than his negatively received 2024 mini series, Cast Away, on Channel 5. While Holly Willoughby has also since left This Morning, with presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard taking over on the morning magazine show.
However, Fern recently stepped further into showbiz with an appearance on Celebrity Big Brother last year, alongside the likes of Sharon Osborne and Louis Walsh.
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During her time in the famous house, Fern remained tight-lipped on her thoughts about Phillip’s scandal-ridden two years. “Genuinely, I haven’t been [on This Morning] for 15 years – I got off the train and it’s way over the horizon now, so I honestly don’t know. I can’t say anything. It was tricky at times. I think Ben [Shephard] and Cat [Deeley] are going to do a great job,” she said when probed by housemates.
Since the TV stint, Fern has returned to writing and recently released her tenth book, A Cornish Legacy. “After This Morning, I needed to find a way to pay for my children to go to university,” she says of the decision to become an author.
Talking about relationships and love in her newest book, Fern says she is also open to romance in the real world, but says it won’t be easy to woo her.
“I’m not adverse to [meeting someone new] but they’d have to be bloody spectacular,” said Fern, who split from husband of 22 years Phil Vickery in 2020. “They’d have to make me laugh, they must be kind, and they must be honest.