Alison Hammond has said she "loves" Phillip Schofield following him confessing to an affair with a young colleague.
The TV personality and presenter, who has been co-hosting This Morning following Schofield's exit alongside Dermot O’Leary, appeared to be emotional on the show on Friday.
It comes after Schofield gave his first interviews following his departure from ITV to The Sun and the BBC in which the 61-year-old said he had "lost everything" and spoke about the "catastrophic effect" on his mind.
Appearing tearful, Hammond said: "I’m finding it really painful.
"I loved Phillip Schofield; it’s weird because I still love Phillip Schofield, however, what he’s done is wrong.
"He’s admitted it, he’s said sorry.
"As a family, we’re all really struggling to process everything – I never know what to say.
"I remember what my mum said, my mum always said 'use your Bible as your satnav in life (Alison)’, and in the Bible it say ‘he without sin, casts the first stone’.
"I just don’t want to say anything bad because I’m in conflict."
O’Leary also said: "I think so many of us are (conflicted)."
On Monday, the presenter appeared to reference the allegations of toxicity behind the scenes of the show.
He said: "We all know we happen to be in the news at the moment and of course, we appreciate that, but just from both of us, the whole team here, the crew, the guys downstairs, we love making this show for all of you."
Co-host Hammond added: "We really do and that’s exactly what we are going to do, we are going to continue to do that."
It was confirmed at the end of Friday's episode of This Morning, that Josie Gibson will be joining Willoughby when she returns from a two-week break on Monday 5 June.
Willoughby took a break from the show around the time news of her former co-host's departure emerged and has this week been pictured on holiday in Portugal with her family.
Source: Press Association
