Fiery TV host Eamonn Holmes has made his feelings clear about his former This Morning colleague Phillip Schofield – we take a look back at his biggest zingers
Eamonn feels his former colleague is “absolutely addicted to fame”
Eamonn Holmes and Phillip Schofield have never been close pals and the Belfast broadcaster hasn’t held back when it comes to voicing his opinion about the TV star.
Phillip’s new Channel 5 series Cast Away has seen him suggest he was “thrown under the bus” by his colleagues before his exit from This Morning.
But Eamonn, who worked with the former primetime host for 14 years, hit back on his GB News breakfast show, saying: “I’m one of the people who threw him under the bus I am very proud to have done it”. The star went onto accuse Phillip of being “absolutely addicted to fame”.
Phillip left the ITV show last year after admitting to an “unwise, but not illegal affair” with a younger male colleague. Rumours had been swirling for months about a feud with his former best pal, co-star Holly Willoughby, too.
“On a personal level, Phillip and Eamonn never got on,” a source told Mail Online. “Eamonn found him snippy and passive- aggressive and thought he treated the lower-down people on the show very badly.”
We take a look at the times Eamonn took a swipe at his former colleague…
Phillip, 62, presented This Morning for more than two decades(Image: Channel 5)
Phil cuts off Ruth
Tension behind the scenes on the This Morning sofa famously spilled into the public eye in 2019, when Phillip cut Ruth off as the show was handing over to Loose Women for a preview of panel topics that day. Ruth hadn’t finished talking when the host jumped in and said: “Guys, we’re going to have to jump in there and stop you I’m afraid because we’re a bit tight for time at this end. Thank you, Ruth.”
The Loose Women star looked visibly annoyed and threw her hands up in the air, hitting back: “Well, I only had about two more words to say”. The snappy exchange led viewers to suspect an offscreen feud and it was reported that Ruth made a complaint to ITV about Phillip’s “rudeness” and the “toxicity” that she claimed he brought to ITV.
“It was about his rudeness,” Eamonn said later in an interview with GB News. “We always had to do this handover between programmes from This Morning and Loose Women about what was coming on next. The Loose Women always felt very demeaned by the whole thing because he was always so rude to them.”
‘Deception’ claims
When Phillip, who had been married to his wife Stephanie for 27 years, came out as gay on This Morning in February 2020, Eamonn and Ruth were by his side. The former couple put rumours of tension to one side to support the star, with the Belfast broadcaster telling Phillip: “It’s fantastic, so many people will be strengthened by this. We’ll be standing beside you.”
Phillip later told social media: “Can I just say that @EamonnHolmes & @RuthieeL were utterly magnificent with me today, privately downstairs just the three of us and upstairs in front of the world. I couldn’t have hoped for a better, calming and loving set of hugs and support, I adore them both.”
The star later confessed to having an affair with a younger colleague on his morning programme and Eamonn went on to claim the couple had been deceived, saying: “The man told us complete lies and we unfortunately believed him”.
“Ruth and I were deceived and lied to,” he raged at both Phillip and ITV. “One day I will tell the story. We had no issue with him being gay, only support. What transpired took us for fools .”
Eamonn said his estranged wife Ruth and her fellow Loose Women found Phillip rude(Image: ITV)
Queue gate
In September 2022, Phillip and his co-presenter Holly Willoughby were blasted for queue-jumping the public to see the late Queen Elizabeth II lying in state. While David Beckham was among the huge celebrities to queue for hours, the This Morning duo did not but they insisted they had “respected” the rules set for media.
Eamonn called them both arrogant liars, saying: “They didn’t get a fast-track, they say. Lie. They say they didn’t pay their respects to the body. Lie. What else were they there for? Let’s just tell the truth about the whole thing.
“They messed up, and instead of being arrogant and saying: ‘We were there working as journalists’, why don’t they just say: ‘Yeah, we thought it would be a good idea’.”
The ‘fake friendship’
A month before he resigned from ITV, Phillip hit back at reports he had fallen out with Holly saying she was his “rock” and “best friend”. This prompted Eamonn to say that both he and Holly “deserved a special award for best actors” at the BAFTA TV Awards.
“The public surely will suss that there’s no chemistry,” he said on GB News. “That it’s a broken fit between the two of them and that This Morning does not depend on who presents it.”
Phillip ‘caught out’
Phillip announced his departure from This Morning on May 20, 2023, after confessing to an affair with a much younger colleague. Eamonn was quick to respond, fuming: “Schofield has finally been caught out”.
