Former This Morning host Phillip Schofield has revealed that he's turned to vaping in the stress of going public with his affair and that his hands are now covered in blisters.
The 61-year-old stepped down from the ITV show last month before admitting to having an affair with a male colleague while still married to his wife.
Schofield said he will comply with an external review commissioned by ITV into the facts surrounding his controversial affair.
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He has since been dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to having an 'unwise but not illegal' relationship with a younger male colleague.
On Thursday (1 June), the former ITV presenter finally broke his silence in two exclusive interviews with The Sun and the BBC.
When asked directly by the BBC’s Amol Rajan if he had any kind of sexual relationship while his former lover was underage, Schofield said: “God no. In my statement, it says ‘consensual relationship, fully legal’, I mean, that [the statement] was approved by both sides.”
Schofield also said he feels like 'a victim of hate after the event' and opened up about how much he's been struggling mentally in the last few weeks.
“I think there will probably be a lot of people watching this now thinking, ‘how dare you?’" he added.
“It would be easier for me to say I don’t feel like a victim.
"What I feel a victim of is spun areas of non-factual information and gossip and nastiness. But I don’t look any more.”
In his interview with The Sun, Schofield admitted that he's 'been vaping, a lot'.
"I didn't realise until suddenly it hurt, but I've been sitting looking up at the sky or out of the window, just staring into space," he said.
"I just sit on the sofa and stare. I realise by doing that, I've blistered both hands."
He added: "I am in a very bad way. Mentally, utterly, utterly broken, I think when you've caused this damage, you can expect nothing, it's my fault, I completely understand."
The former ITV host suggested homophobia could be behind some of the criticism.
He said: “Attraction is attraction. It’s no different in the gay world as it is in the heterosexual world or in the lesbian world.
“There shouldn’t be a difference. This is where homophobia comes in. We did first meet when he was 15, I visited the drama school [he attended].”
He added: “So yeah, there’s a difference. It’s accepted by Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s not accepted if it’s in the gay world.”
Schofield also denied any suggestions of 'grooming' the younger colleague.
Topics: Phillip Schofield, ITV, This Morning, Celebrity
Anish Vij