Amanda Holden isn’t letting her feud with Phillip Schofield rest after he quits This Morning
Amanda Holden appears to have made a dig at Phillip Schofield following the This Morning presenter’s departure. (Getty)
TV personalities including Amanda Holden appear to have taken a swipe at Phillip Schofield following the This Morning presenter’s dramatic exit.
Schofield, 61, announced that he was stepping down from the beloved breakfast TV show on Saturday (20 May), following a difficult year for the presenter.
The pairing of Schofield, who came out as gay in 2020, and his This Morning co-presenter Holly Willoughby was once full of easy, humorous on-screen chemistry, but recently, there have been rumours of a ‘feud’ between the two and their relationship was described as “increasingly strained”.
The pair also came under scrutiny in 2022 during the lying-in-state of the late Queen Elizabeth II, where they received press passes to circumvent the queue to pay respects. Known as ‘queuegate’, the optics were poor for Willoughby and Schofield – despite not having done anything technically wrong – when stars like David Beckham were seen queuing for hours with members of the public.
Schofield’s decision to quit the show also came after his brother, Timothy Schofield, was convicted of sexually abusing a child in April, and sentenced to 12 years on 11 counts of sexual offences.
The presenter took time off air for his brother’s trial and was temporarily replaced by guest stars including ‘Queen of Birmingham’ Alison Hammond, who viewers noted had excellent chemistry with Willoughby. Some even called for Hammond and Willoughby to co-host This Morning permanently.
And in light of Schofield’s departure, two famous faces appear to have made digs at the presenter.
Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden has previously been open about her feud with Schofield, reportedly ignited when he was keen to have Rochelle Humes as guest presenter on This Morning while WIlloughby with presenting I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2018.
However, Holden had already been chosen to stand in for Willoughby. A source revealed at the time that Holden felt “Phil unfairly used his powers of persuasion” to push for The Saturdays singer Humes and was “incensed” by his actions.
After Schofield announced his This Morning exit, Holden shared a grid post on Instagram for her two million followers featuring the flexed arm muscle emoji against a black background.
The cryptic image has been interpreted by commenters as a swipe at Schofield, with one writing: “I know what that’s for” with three laughing face emojis.
Another commented: “Still not over him not wanting you as a standing host on the sofa then!”, while a third wrote: “About time he went! Holly needs to go now. Get @alisonhammon55 and @dermotoleary on full time!”
Holden addressed the so-called feud in 2019, telling her Heart Radio co-host Jamie Theaksn that she’d “moved on from it” and that she offered to “meet him for a coffee months ago” but “he didn’t reply to my text”.
GB News presenter Eamonn Holmes also appeared to comment on Schofield’s departure, in the form of a cute snap of his granddaughter shared on Twitter, with the caption: “Pappa got a smacker. Thank u Emilia. All in all that rounded off what turned out to be a good day.”
Holmes is married to Ruth Langsford, another ITV presenter, who has previously clashed with Schofield on-air.
Replies to his tweet include several users commenting variations of “I see what you did there” and one user writing: “I’m just pleased you and Ruth were lovely to me when I worked on This Morning Live and on the show itself when I temporarily joined. Shame not everyone was.”
