This Morning’s Josie Gibson breaks her silence after she is announced as Phillip’s replacement

Josie Gibson has broken her social media silence after it was revealed she would be replacing axed Phillip Schofield and co-presenting This Morning alongside Holly Willoughby on Monday. 

The news was announced during the last moments of Friday’s episode by host Alison Hammond, who said: ‘Holly will be back on Monday with Josie.’ 

Josie, 38, has appeared regularly on the show since 2019 and guest presented several episodes. 

And taking to Instagram hours later the former Big Brother star appeared to shake off the fallout as she enjoyed a horse ride with son four-year-old son Reggie.

Josie captured a short clip of the journey as she looked effortlessly stylish in a green dress with denim jacket and retro tinted shades. 

Speaking out: Josie Gibson, 38, has broken her social media silence after it was revealed she would be replacing axed Phillip Schofield and co-presenting This Morning alongside Holly Willoughby on Monday

Replacement: She will be taking the place of axed Phillip Schofield

Replacement: She will be taking the place of axed Phillip Schofield 

Cuddling up to her young son, the pair giggled as they were pulled in a carriage by the white steed. 

It comes as Phillip, 61, admitted his glittering TV career is over and he has been shunned by Holly, 42 – who responded with an Instagram post about how to keep ‘your hair safe all summer long’.

In his first broadcast interview since the scandal erupted, the presenter explained how he messaged his former co-host to say he was ‘so, so sorry’ for lying to her about his ‘unwise, but not illegal’ relationship with the man who is 34 years his junior. 

But he denied he had groomed a younger colleague before their affair and revealed that he is suicidal, telling critics: ‘Do you want me to die? Because that’s where I am’. 

On Friday Alison broke down in tears on This Morning as she admitted it was ‘really painful’ to watch Phillip Schofield being interviewed about his affair.

The host, 48, who has been fronting the show with Dermot O’Leary during the fallout from the scandal, said the ‘family’ at ITV had been really struggling to process everything.

She said her late mother Maria, who died in 2020, used to tell her: ‘Use your Bible as a satnav in life, Al.’ Ms Hammond then quoted a passage from the Bible about a woman caught in adultery. 

After watching the clip from the dramatic BBC interview in which Schofield said his daughters had saved his life, Ms Hammond was left in tears as she struggled to speak.

Day out: And taking to Instagram on Friday the former Big Brother star appeared to shake off the fallout as she enjoyed a horse ride with son four-year-old son Reggie

Day out: And taking to Instagram on Friday the former Big Brother star appeared to shake off the fallout as she enjoyed a horse ride with son four-year-old son Reggie

Wagon: Cuddling up to her young son, the pair giggled as they were pulled in a carriage by the white steed

Wagon: Cuddling up to her young son, the pair giggled as they were pulled in a carriage by the white steed

Old hat: Josie  has appeared regularly on the show since 2019 and guest presented several episodes (pictured with Phil in 2022)

Old hat: Josie  has appeared regularly on the show since 2019 and guest presented several episodes (pictured with Phil in 2022)

She told This Morning: ‘I was finding it really painful 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 satnav 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.’

It comes as a source says Holly Willoughby will return to present This Morning alongside Josie Gibson on Monday and Tuesday, and with Craig Doyle on Wednesday and Thursday – before Hammond and Dermot O’Leary present on Friday.

The week after, Hammond and Willoughby will likely present together, the source added. 

Hammond was quoting Jesus speaking in the Gospel of John, in which he is asked by the Pharisees whether they should stone a woman caught in adultery, and replies: ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.’ 

Regular guest Gyles Brandreth described the Schofield issue as a ‘human story but with public implications’, adding: ‘We are dealing with a human being that all of us here have known and liked over many years. So it makes it difficult for us.’

Twars: On Friday Alison broke down in tears on This Morning as she admitted it was 'really painful' to watch Phillip Schofield being interviewed about his affair

Twars: On Friday Alison broke down in tears on This Morning as she admitted it was ‘really painful’ to watch Phillip Schofield being interviewed about his affair 

Keeping it on track: She has been fronting the show with Dermot O'Leary during the fallout from the scandal, said the 'family' at ITV had been really struggling to process everything

Keeping it on track: She has been fronting the show with Dermot O’Leary during the fallout from the scandal, said the ‘family’ at ITV had been really struggling to process everything 

Ms Hammond then said: ‘There’s so much a man can take, there’s so much. And I don’t want any death in this situation.’

Brandreth added: ‘I’m with you about he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. I mean there has been clearly an error of judgment at least here, which he admits to.’

In his first broadcast interview since the scandal erupted, the presenter explained how he messaged his former co-host to say he was ‘so, so sorry’ for lying to her about his ‘unwise, but not illegal’ relationship with the man who is 34 years his junior. 

But he denied he had groomed a younger colleague before their affair and revealed that he is suicidal, telling critics: ‘Do you want me to die? Because that’s where I am’. 

The broadcaster, 61, also lifted the lid on how Holly Willoughby distanced herself from him when his paedophile brother was jailed and confirmed they are no longer speaking after he left ITV, although he admitted she may have been banned.

He said: ‘I WhatsApped her on the day I put out the statement. I said that you don’t have to reply, you probably can’t, but I want to say I’m desperately, desperately sorry’, adding Holly, who is currently on holiday in Portugal, hasn’t replied.

But shortly after Schofield confessed he’d sent her a text begging for forgiveness, Willoughby’s social media team took to Instagram to share a blasé post about hair care – with no mention of Phil or his apology.

Last Friday, Schofield admitted that he had lied to ITV, his co-host, his agency YMU and lawyers about his relationship with a much younger colleague

 Last Friday, Schofield admitted that he had lied to ITV, his co-host, his agency YMU and lawyers about his relationship with a much younger colleague

Uploaded to the Wylde Moon account – Holly’s wellness blog – was a makeup-free selfie, with Holly sporting wet hair as she smouldered down the camera lens with newly-washed hair. 

The post made no reference to her ‘feud’ with Schofield and instead offered tips on how to keep ‘your hair safe all summer long’.

Denying their relationship is ‘broken’, Schofield said today: ‘I adore Holly. I’ve always adored her. She’s my TV sister. I don’t have a problem with her at all. 

Schofield told the BBC he first met his lover when he was 15 and in a theatre school where he offered him career advice without ‘any whiff of impropriety’. Their sexual relationship began with a kiss in his dressing room at work and led to ‘more’ on around six occasions when the man was around 20. Schofield said they were never in love, and remained ‘mates’ afterwards. 

But he vehemently denied grooming him as a teenager before he began working at ITV, declaring: ‘What’s wrong with talking to someone?’ 

Speaking for the first time, Schofield revealed: 

  • He met the man at the centre of the scandal when he was 15 and in school.  They began a sexual relationship when he was 20 and working at This Morning. Schofield denied it was grooming and said any sexual contact was ‘consensual’
  • Phillip said that he would have taken his life by now if it wasn’t for his two daughters, claiming: ‘I think I understand how Caroline Flack felt’;
  • The broadcaster believes his TV career is over and he will never be on the nation’s screens again;
  • The star has begged Holly Willoughby for forgiveness by text – but she has not replied.  He denied that they had been at the heart of any ‘toxicity’ or bullying at This Morning, insisting that culture didn’t exist;
  • He thanks his family for their support – but admits his relationship with his wife Stephanie is ‘not great right now’; 
  • Schofield hit back at critic Eamonn Holmes, declaring: ‘All I see is angry people shouting about a show they’re not on any more’;
  • Phillip claimed the reaction to his age gap romance was ‘homophobic’ – and said it would have been different if it was a man and a woman;

He said: ‘I would say to everyone, my family, friends, my work colleagues, to ITV, the public, my management company, the people I lied to: I am desperately sorry. But principally I would like to apologise to him.

‘It may have been consensual, fully legal, but I shouldn’t have allowed it to happen and that is a grave error on my part and I know that because if that an absolutely innocent person is being persecuted’.

Breaking his silence on the scandal that he admits has ended his career, Schofield claimed he will never be on TV again and revealed he would have taken his own life by now if it wasn’t for his daughters, declaring: ‘I understand how Caroline Flack felt’.

He apologised to his family, friends and ITV viewers for lying about the affair, but insisted that much of the criticism of him since he left This Morning had been homophobic. He also told of a ‘catastrophic effect’ on his mind.      

He revealed he texted former co-host Holly Willoughby begging for forgiveness over his This Morning affair lies but she never replied.  

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk