Archive June 23, 2025

In spite of decades of conflict rumors, Ferrn Britton has admitted she has “mixed emotions” about the shamed presenter. She has given her verdict on Phillip Schofield’s demise.

Fern Britton says Phillip Schofield’s fall from grace left her with ‘mixed emotions’ after working alongside him for seven years on This Morning. “It brought up a lot of mixed emotions.

“The years we worked together were mostly great fun and we were a very good partnership which I can remember with fondness,” 67-year-old Fern told Saga Magazine, despite years of feud rumours between the pair.

Fern quit This Morning back in 2009, with Phillip claiming in his 2020 autobiography that the pair had a fallout over This Morning’s content, describing their relationship as ‘beyond repair’.

Three years later, Phillip, 63, stepped down from This Morning as it was uncovered he had an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a young show runner, following months of rumours he was embroiled in a feud with co-presenter Holly Willoughby.

She only had kind words for Phillip, despite the widespread assumption that the shamed presenter and Fern have lost love. I was aware of his devotion to his work and concern for the public’s perception. He and his family must have had a very difficult time, Fern said.

Since leaving This Morning, Phillip subsequently left his presenting role on Dancing On Ice and has steered away from the spotlight – other than his negatively received 2024 mini series, Cast Away, on Channel 5. While Holly Willoughby has also since left This Morning, with presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard taking over on the morning magazine show.

However, Fern recently stepped further into showbiz with an appearance on Celebrity Big Brother last year, alongside the likes of Sharon Osborne and Louis Walsh.

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Fern kept her quiet about her thoughts regarding Phillip’s scandal-ridden two years while she was a resident of the well-known house. I honestly don’t know because I haven’t been [on This Morning] in 15 years because I got off the train and it’s now way over the horizon. I am unable to respond. Sometimes it was challenging. She said when housemates inquired about her and Cat [Deeley] that they would do a great job.

Fern has since written again for TV and most recently has published her tenth book, “A Cornish Legacy.” She describes the choice to become an author as “after This Morning, I needed to find a way to pay for my children’s education.”

Talking about relationships and love in her newest book, Fern says she is also open to romance in the real world, but says it won’t be easy to woo her.

Ashley Walters, a former Top Boy star, recently cut back on River’s screen time and thinks his hit Netflix series has facilitated difficult conversations with parents.

Adolescence star Ashley Walters says being part of the harrowing Netflix show which gripped the world has had a positive impact on how he parents his own brood. The 42-year-old father of eight – who welcomed his first child at 20, has opened up on staying connected to his youngest son, River, 5 – and how the show led him to cutting down on his screen time.

We as parents really care about pushing what their love. He spends a lot of time animating on his iPad and has a lot of that software installed. He occasionally does not act animated when we believe he does.

“We’ve been very conscious about that and drawing back on his screen time. Half the week, he can’t even touch his device. And then actually, it’s about me stepping in as a dad and saying, ‘Let’s go fishing, let’s do more stuff,’ so he doesn’t want to be on there as much as he is.”

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Global hit Adolescence explored the impact of a shocking act of violence on a family and community – focusing on the Miller family’s 13-year-old son, Jamie, who is arrested for the murder of a schoolmate – and Top Boy star Ashley claims it’s also helped parents broach difficult conversations about navigating the online world.

No one wants to be the ogre parent who arrives and departs, “All right, that’s it, everything off.” Ashley, who first gained notoriety as a member of UK garage group So Solid Crew, says, “I don’t want them to feel like they’re not the same as their friends.”

You as a parent get sucked into all of that, but I believe this show has allowed parents to travel, “Fu*k that shit.” This might occur, according to adolescence. We will begin to talk about this right away. He continued, “I believe that’s a good thing,” he told Men’s Health UK.

Ashley is a proud dad to sons Shayon, 22, and Panera, 19, and daughter China, 21, whom he shares with ex-partner Natalie Williams, he has daughters Antonia and Ashleigh with another woman, as well as Amaiya-Love, 9, and River, 5, with his wife Danielle Isaie, whom he married in 2013. Ashley is also the stepfather to his wife’s child from a previous relationship.

The Peckham-born actor, who recently released his turbulent past in his best-selling book, Always Winning, admitted he’d “love” being a part of a potential second series but added, “I strongly believe that it will be completely different characters with a completely different story. The one-take process will remain constant, in my opinion.

The actor and musician, looking incredibly buff in the new shoot, also spoke bravely about why his previous alcohol addiction, which he battled up to 2020, became a crutch for his social inhibitions.

“I don’t have the ability to communicate that well, and I wouldn’t be in a group of people looking at everyone and wondering how they could communicate so beautifully.” What life lesson did you learn from everyone else that I didn’t?

For a moment, alcohol was the solution to the biggest issue I felt I had, even though some people may not like me saying it. The truth is that the main goal of using alcohol or drugs is to isolate you. Its main goal is to take everything from you, leaving you alone until it tries to kill you.

He now asserts that he frequently makes himself feel like he’s trying to strike up conversations in difficult situations. I’ve met some incredible people who I would not have [met while drinking] know for sure. I would have been yelling at myself.

It feels good to sit down, laugh, and joke naturally with someone I admire, even though I’m a little older, and we had an amazing conversation for an hour. It reflects how far I’ve come.

The full Ashley Walters interview is available for purchase starting on June 24th, 2018, in Men’s Health UK’s July/August issue.