This Morning editor Martin Frizell has broken his silence following Phillip Schofield's confession that he had an affair with a younger colleague and then lied about it.
The ITV programme has been at the very centre of weeks of media attention following Schofield's departure last month (20 May).
The editor has since called for some sense of 'respite' for his staff following a whole avalanche of further accusations about the wider workplace culture surrounding This Morning.
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Regarding Schofield's affair, the presenter did not name the production runner but he did state that the relationship had been ‘unwise but not illegal’.
The statement read: "The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
"Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship.
"That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over."
He has since insisted he's not a 'groomer' in a bombshell first interview following the scandal.
He told The Sun: "I did not, I did not [groom him].
"There are accusations of all sorts of things. It never came across that way [an abuse of power] because we’d become mates. I don’t know about that."
Following the controversy, both Schofield and ITV have been the centre of mass criticism, with former This Morning host Eamonn Holmes being a very vocal presence throughout.
Holmes - who previously presented This Morning on Fridays with his wife, Ruth Langsford, until 2020 - accused Schofield of 'toxicity' in an interview with GB News.
He also addressed the 'queuegate' scandal along with Schofield and Holly Willoughby's 'drunk' presenting.
Since then, Frizell told Sky News yesterday (3 June) to 'read between the lines' amid the claims made by former staff members that the working environment was 'toxic'.
He continued: "I think there’s some scores being settled.
"All I want to say is, I am working with a fantastic team of mainly women, many mums, a lot of them concerned for their jobs, although we’ve told them not to be."
The editor added: "But this is the 23rd day now of being on the front page and it’s tiring, they worked all through Covid brilliantly, they worked all through this putting a programme out … and I just think they need a bit of respite now."
Topics: UK News, TV And Film, This Morning, ITV, Phillip Schofield
Rhiannon Ingle