Phillip Schofield addresses how he'll spend first Christmas after coming out as gay

TV star Phillip Schofield is looking forward to Christmas this year, as it will mark “the beginning of the end of 2020”. Following a very “difficult” year, the father-of-two, who came out as gay back in February and continued to host This Morning throughout the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns with co-star Holly Willoughby, said it is a year “none of us will be sad to see the back of”.

Despite his excitement for the festive season, Phillip revealed he is still apprehensive about what restrictions might still be in place towards the end of December.

When asked what he was most looking forward to, he said: “It’s difficult to know quite what Christmas is going to be, nobody knows just yet what we are going to be allowed to do, how many people we’ll be allowed to see, but I think Christmas will signal the beginning of the end of 2020, a year that none of us will be sad to see the back of, and hopefully look forward to 2021 where things will begin to get that little bit more normal, and that we can all creep back blinking into the light.”

Looking to the positive side of things, Phillip, who shares grown-up daughters Molly, 27, and Ruby, 24, with his wife Stephanie Lowe, said an intimate celebration could be “amazing.”

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He went on to add: “So Christmas this year, maybe it will be amazing because we will be forced to be a little smaller, we’ll be forced to adapt our Christmases, and we don’t know quite who the family will be able to see at Christmas but human beings are very resourceful and whatever Christmas is, well I am sure we will all make the most of it!”

Phillip made his comments ahead of the launch of his festive show How To Spend it Well at Christmas.

The three-part series will see the host put a range of festive gifts, games and food to the test.

The 58-year-old said those who work in telly are “very lucky” because they get to have “several different bites of Christmas” before the big day arrives, thanks to the amount of Christmas specials which are pre-recorded earlier in the year.

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His programme, which was recorded in October ahead of the second lockdown, followed strict COVID-19 regulations, but Phillip said viewers would be none the wiser.

The presenter filmed at a different location to last year in a house in Oxfordshire, which gave everyone more space to be able to social distance.

The ITV star also explained that everyone was tested before filming began and were wearing masks.

He said TV crews had adapted well to this new way of working.

How To Spend it Well at Christmas will air on ITV at 8.15pm on Tuesday, November 17.

source: express.co.uk