Phillip Schofield has shared on the tender moment that his colleague Holly Willoughby begged him to open up.
The This Morning presenter, 58, revealed his sexuality in an emotional interview with co-host Holly on the show back in February.
And the ITV star has discussed how Holly became his "rock" at work as he struggled in preparation of coming out gay - which led to him becoming thin and "not fun to work with."
Speaking on Lorraine on Thursday morning, about his new book Life's What You Make, Phil told viewers and host Lorraine Kelly about Holly pulling him aside before he told her he was gay - which led to the TV pair becoming "closer than ever"
He said: "Ages ago, she said to me ‘whats up? Are you ok? Just talk to me’."
Phil added that "Everyone knew something was wrong."
"I told her and she was helping me through, I had a rock at home with Steph and rock at work with Holly."
In his new book Phil details the harrowing effect of struggling to sleep more than two hours a night and battled poor mental health before sharing his sexuality with the world.
His weight plummeted to an all-time low and he took prescription pills to "take the edge off".
Phil admits he knew he had to come out, saying: "If not, the secret was going to give me a total breakdown... at best."
He added: "My weight dropped and as it hit 9st 12lbs the This Morning viewers started to notice. I was getting tweets from people asking if I was ill."
Phil came out in a statement posted to Instagram on February 7.
The TV star wrote: "With the strength and support of my wife and my daughters, I have been coming to terms with the fact that I am gay."
* Life's What You Make It by Phillip Schofield is out now
