This Morning 's Phillip Schofield has dismissed a rift with former co-star Fern Britton as he celebrated his 20th anniversary of hosting the ITV show. Reminded of the anniversary by his current co-host Holly Willoughby during the show on Tuesday, September 6, Phillip was shown a clip of him and Fern presenting the show in 2002.
Holly began by telling viewers: “We couldn’t start today’s show without mentioning something very special. Actually, it really is a huge achievement.” To which Phillip said: “I didn’t realise!” Holly then explained: “Yesterday, we were doing our meeting, it’s always at the end of the show and it’s like, ‘What’s coming on tomorrow’s show’ and the producers went, ‘Did you know, it’s 20 years exactly since Phil officially started presenting on This Morning? 20 years!’”
After watching the clip, Phillip revealed, “Oh my god, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. That must have been the first series of I’m a Celeb… that’s mad.” He added: “I was nervy as well. Fern [Britton] was so lovely looking after me.”
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Phillip and Fern would host This Morning together for seven years before she decided to leave the show in 2009. The pair also hosted The British Soap Awards from 2006 to 2008 and All Star Mr & Mrs from 2008 to 2010, before rumours of a feud began to circulate.
At the time of her This Morning exit, reports suggested that Fern felt that she was "living in Phillip's shadow" and was being paid £250,000 less than her co-host. Fern has since denied that she left the ITV show because of salary.
Phillip has since admitted that he and Fern do not speak anymore. He told Heat magazine in 2013: "We were involved in the show and mates at the time, but we don't really [speak]. I see Phil [Fern's then-husband, chef Phil Vickery] when he's in This Morning... But we're not in touch now."
In his autobiography Life Is What You Make It, Phillip wrote of the argument he had with Fern which ended their friendship. The pair exchanged fraught words in their make-up room in 2009 over the content of the show and Phillip said he was 'stunned' when she accused him of 'meddling'. He wrote: "I walked back into the make-up room and calmly said, "Please don't do that to me again".
This Morning airs on ITV on weekdays at 10am. For more showbiz and television stories, get our newsletter here.
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