Phillip Schofield has admitted having an affair with a “much younger” male ITV employee while he was still married and revealed he is stepping down from his role at the British Soap Awards.

His admission came in a statement published in the Daily Mail.

The This Morning star, 61, was dropped from presenting the day time TV show last week.

It is understood that the man, who is not a public figure, did not want the relationship to be made public.

The affair took place before Mr Schofield publicly came out as gay, and while he was still married to his wife Stephanie Lowe.

Mr Schofield’s exit from This Morning came after weeks of rumours of a rift between him and his co-presenter Holly Willoughby.

Rumours of behind the scenes problems between the pair surfaced after his brother Tim Schofield was convicted of sexual activity with a child.

Mr Schofield who married his wife Stephanie in 1993, came out as gay on This Morning in 2020.