I worked on This Morning with Phillip Schofield – it was toxic, sexist and we were banned from speaking to him and Holly
A WOMAN who worked on This Morning has claimed the culture was toxic, sexist and that staff were banned from speaking to presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
Emily Maddick was the former head of news at the ITV daytime show but only managed to stick it out for three months.
Having accepted the role in September 2019, Emily claimed by December, a “culture of intimidation” prevented her from being able to do her job.
Handing in her resignation, the now Glamour Magazine Assistant Editor said she suffered at the hands of sexism, bullying and homophobia.
She wrote in the magazine: “I was not allowed to communicate with either of them. Yes, really. And neither were the rest of my team.”
Emily continued: “I never once spoke to Phillip (he did appear to glare at me a couple of times, apparently, so I was later told, because he knew I was close friends with a senior tabloid journalist.) As for Holly, the only interaction we had was when I held open a door for her and complimented her sparkly skirt, to which she thanked me.
“They were treated like gods, kept in a gilded cage, with their daily meetings with the editor held in their dressing rooms, away from the team. I was flabbergasted by how utterly fake it all was. As Eamonn also said this week: ‘This Morning under the guise of Holly and Phil is a very false existence.'”
Emily wrote about how she had heard the rumours about Phillip, 61, and his teen colleague during her short stint on the show – adding that those in power were “complicit”.
Phil was axed by ITV after hosting This Morning for more than 21 years following his bombshell confession about an “unwise by not illegal” affair with a much younger male colleague.
He was also dropped by his agents and has lost several lucrative brand deals since admitting to lying about his relationship with his former colleague.
Phil’s former best mate and co-host Holly returned to the show for the first time since the controversy on Monday.
Holly — just back from a break in Portugal and wearing a sleeveless white dress — touched her new co-host Josie Gibson’s hand before speaking to viewers.
She said: “It feels very strange sitting here without Phil and I imagine you might be feeling a lot like I have — shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the well-being of people on all sides of what’s been going on, and full of questions.”
Holly added: “You, me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process.”
An ITV spokesperson said: “As a producer and broadcaster, ITV takes its responsibilities around Duty of Care and Speaking Up seriously and has robust and well established processes in place.”