Phillip Schofield “couldn’t cope” without the support of wife Stephanie Lowe
Mitya Underwood
When Phillip Schofield’s professional world crumbled in the fallout from his “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague last year, it was the presenter’s loyal family who kept him going.
His wife of 30 years, Stephanie Lowe, stood by her troubled husband during and after the career-shattering scandal that resulted in him resigning from his job of 21 years, as co-host of This Morningwith Holly Willoughby.
Now, with fresh reports of him signing a non-disclosure agreement covering the affair, and ITV’s recent announcement of his permanent replacement on This Morning, a source tells new that Stephanie remains his “tower of strength”, and would never give up on him.
“Despite everything, Steph has been the solid support by Phillip’s side,” the source said. “He calls her ‘his rock’. She’s been his tower of strength, and continues to be now. Divorce is the last thing she’d want to put him through.”
The couple met when Phillip was 25 and working at the BBC, where Stephanie was employed as a production assistant. They married in March 1993 and have two daughters, Molly, 30, and Ruby, 28.
When Phillip came out as gay live on This Morning in February 2020, he described loyal Stephanie as “the kindest soul I have ever met”, later saying she had known about his sexuality for a while and had been “amazing”.
In the aftermath of the affair scandal last year, Stephanie and the girls rallied around him, and he appeared to credit his daughters for “guarding” him and keeping him alive, saying, “I am in a very bad way. Mentally, utterly, utterly broken. And if it hadn’t been for my girls last week, I wouldn’t be here.”
After keeping a low profile since the scandal first erupted, Phillip was back in the news last week amid reports he had paid the man he had his affair with (known as Person X) a sum of money – and both parties had signed an NDA, preventing them from talking publicly about their relationship.
