Alison Hammond became emotional as she watched Phillip Schofield being asked about his affair.
Hammond broke down in tears when talking about the BBC interview featuring her former This Morning colleague - saying it was ‘really painful’ to watch.
Just days after leaving This Morning, which he presented for more than 20 years, Schofield issued a statement admitting to an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a ‘younger male colleague’ while still married to Stephanie Lowe.
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Schofield has come under intense scrutiny since making the admission, and sat down for an interview with BBC's Amol Rajan where he said he had 'lost everything'.
He said: “It is relentless, and it is day after day, after day after day.
“If you don't think that that is going to have the most catastrophic effect on someone's mind - do you want me to die? Because that's where I am. I have lost everything.”
During today’s episode of This Morning, hosts Hammond and Dermot O’Leary said the story had been ‘painful’ and ‘difficult’ to cover given their friendship with Schofield.
Hammond said: “I was finding it really painful [to watch the interview] because obviously, you know, I loved Phillip Schofield and it's weird because I still love Phillip Schofield.
“However what he's done is wrong, he's admitted it, he's said sorry. But as a family we're all really struggling to process everything. I never know what to say.
"But I remember what my mum used to say.
“My mum always said, 'Use your Bible as a sat nav in life, Al.'
“And in the Bible it says he without sin, cast the first stone. And I just don't want to, I don't want to say anything bad because obviously I'm in conflict, that's how I feel.'
Her co-host, O'Leary, added: “This has been very difficult for us to cover this story as a friend and a colleague.”
Elsewhere, during the BBC interview, Schofield suggested that his TV career was over for good.
“I see nothing ahead of me but blackness and sadness and regret and remorse and guilt,” he said.
“I'm not in television any more, I don't know what I am even remotely - if I get through this.
“I don't know even remotely how I move forward - what am I going to do with my days?'
“I did something very wrong and then I lied about it consistently and you can't live with that. How do you live with that?”
Topics: Phillip Schofield, ITV, This Morning, TV and Film
Claire Reid