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.
Phillip Schofield had a supportive shoulder to lean on as he rounded off a boozy visit to the pub on Tuesday afternoon – and as he knows all too well, it wouldn’t be the first
A growing number of celebrity couples are choosing not to divorce, despite being separated, including Phillip Schofield and wife Stephanie Lowe (pictured)
The former presenter was accompanied by Joshua Luke Sharman, a London based nurse, during an appearance at the city’s first LGBTQ + dedicated cinema, the Arzner Bar & Cafe
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 lies 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.
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 (pictured with daughters Molly and Ruby in 2002)
Stephanie 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
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.
Loyal Stephanie remained a tower of strength for her under-fire husband (L-R: Molly Lowe, Phillip Schofield, Stephanie Lowe and Ruby Lowe on the red carpet in 2018)
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.
Molly, who now works as her father’s publicist, insisted that he and his wife Stephanie are ‘still best friend’ (Stephanie is pictured on Phillip Schofield: Cast Away)
‘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.’
Schofield 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’
Schofield with his wife Stephanie on his62nd birthday weekend. The couple still wear their wedding rings
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.
