Piers Morgan spent the Oscars struggling to understand why Phillip Schofield’s coming out is important
Piers Morgan questioned whether Phillip Schofield needed to come out in today’s ‘tolerant’ society. (ITV)
Piers Morgan questioned why Phillip Schofield needed to come out as gay to the public during Good Morning Britain‘s Oscars coverage.
Phillip Schofield came out as gay in an emotional Instagram post on February 7, with Morgan among the many to have congratulated the This Morning host over the weekend.
On Monday’s Good Morning Britain Oscars special, on February 10, Morgan brought up the topic with his co-host Susanna Reid and guests Joan Collins, Perez Hilton and Kelly and Sharon Osbourne.
Morgan asked Collins: “Should we even be talking about this? Should Phillip Schofield have felt the need to do this?”
“Have we not reached a stage now of tolerance and acceptance where, actually, making a public statement about your sexuality almost feels like… Why are we still making people go through this?”
The presenter’s heralding of an era of tolerance will come as a shock to the non-binary community, who have found themselves under sustained attack from Morgan in recent months.
Piers Morgan jokes he ‘missed the story’ of Phillip Schofield being gay.
In an interview with The Sun on Sunday, on February 9, Schofield revealed that he was never confused about his sexuality, and knew he was gay when he married his wife Stephanie Lowe in 1993
“I admit I was perhaps a bit naïve,” he said. “But when we got married it was a joyous time and it wasn’t a consideration in my head.”
The year before his wedding, Schofield was the subject of a book by Morgan titled To Dream a Dream: Amazing Life of Phillip Schofield.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Morgan joked that he must have “missed the story” of Schofield’s sexuality when writing the biography.
Sharon Osbourne chimed that she thought Schofield had shown his bravery in coming out aged 57, as “the secret would have probably ended up killing him”.
She added: “His wife must be a magnificent woman.”
Morgan said he found it interesting that Schofield knew he was gay when he married his wife Stephanie Lowe, and acknowledged that grappling with his sexuality throughout his 27-year marriage must have been difficult.
He added that while the news must have been difficult for his wife and children, “if they can move on and deal with it, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks”.
