Phillip Schofield has revealed that RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage offered him support when he came out and made him feel like he had ‘joined a club’.
The This Morning presenter, 58, was approached by the LGBT+ advocate, 52, when he came out in February alongside co-host Holly Willoughby on the ITV daytime show.
Phillip described how Michelle invited him for lunch before the coronavirus lockdown and told the presenter he was ‘beating himself up for no reason’.
Support: Phillip Schofield, 58, has revealed that RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage offered him support when he came out and made him feel like he had ‘joined a club’
Speaking on the Happy Place podcast with Fearne Cotton, he said: ‘Before we all got locked down I had lunch with Michelle Visage and she said: “How do you feel?”‘
‘She is one of those compassionate, kind people and I’ve known her on and off the telly, and she was one of those people that messaged me… the most amazing people messaged me.’
Phillip continued: ‘And she said: “Right, I am going to take you out for coffee we have got to talk to make sure you are okay.”
Kind: Phillip described how Michelle Visage, 52, (pictured) invited him for lunch before the coronavirus lockdown and told the presenter he was ‘beating himself up for no reason’
‘And that is what a lot of people have said. “Are you okay? Are you sure you are okay?”
‘I went out and I said: “I feel like I have joined a club. But I don’t know whether I have the right credentials? I don’t know, can I put a rainbow after stuff that I have said?”
‘She said: “Of course you can!” I said: “I don’t know what I can and can’t do?”
Open: Speaking on the Happy Place podcast with Fearne Cotton (pictured), he said: ‘Before we all got locked down I had lunch with Michelle Visage and she said: “How do you feel?”‘
‘She said: “You are beating yourself up for no reason. Welcome to the club and what’s more you have made a massive difference to people who didn’t realise they perhaps could have membership to that club.’
The presenter – who has children Ruby, 24, and Molly, 27, with wife Stephanie Lowe – admitted he feels ‘proud’ of the man he is but he also regrets how the news has impacted his family.
Revealing some of the thoughts he used to have, he said: ‘You can’t be married for 27 years and make this work. You can’t do this without hurting everybody. But what about me? If I don’t do this, then all I hurt is myself, maybe really seriously.’ And so that’s what goes around and round and round and around and around.’
My Happy Place: Phil shared this selfie of himself and Fearne and revealed their conversation was a ‘good sort of emotional’
Phil has previously revealed that it was just himself and wife Steph that knew of his true sexuality for a while, before he began telling his daughters and those close to him.
One person he visited to tell face-to-face was his mother Pat, 84, who he revealed had an amusing reaction to his news after she feared he was about to tell her that he was going blind.
Phil said he had began suffering with ‘floaters’ in his eyes, which made him feel like he was looking at the world through a dirty mirror, before visiting his mother to tell her that he would be publicly coming out.
Family: The presenter – who has children Ruby, 24, and Molly, 27, with wife Stephanie Lowe – admitted he feels ‘proud’ of the man he is, but he also regrets how the news has impacted his family
He said: ‘Yes, my mum. Oh my God, it’s only your mother can come out with something that is totally left field. I have these floaters in my … They drive me mad. I think I’m about to maybe in the October half term, finally we might have managed to find a way to get rid of them, but these floaters which just drift.
‘My world, I just constantly look like I’m looking through a dirty bathroom window. That’s my view on the world.’
‘And here I am, sitting with my mum. I’m about to tell her what I’m about to tell her. I said, “Mum, I’ve got something really big to say.” She said, “Okay, that’s all right. That’s okay. It doesn’t matter. Everything’s fine. What’s the matter?” I said, “I’m gay.” And she said, “Oh. Oh, thank God. I thought you were going blind.”
Emotional: Philip made the decision to come out earlier this year in an emotional Instagram statement, before being interviewed by Holly moments later (pictured at the time)
‘Blind? Blind! Why the hell did you think I was going blind?’ She said, “Well, your floater things.” ‘No. No.’
‘And she’s proved to be the most thoroughly modern 84 year old. ‘How are you doing? What are you thinking? Let’s talk about it. Everything’s going to be okay.’ So, people surprise you. And I’ve said that. I say that in there.
‘If you have something like this that is burrowing into your brain, then you never know. And I’m fully aware that there are some families that the reaction is not like this. And that is a great sadness to me, is that not everyone’s going to get the reaction that I got, but I was lucky.’
Listen to Phil’s full interview on Fearne’s Happy Place podcast.
Worried: Phil said he had began suffering with ‘floaters’ in his eyes, which made him feel like he was looking at the world through a dirty mirror, before visiting his mother to tell her that he would be publicly coming out