I first knew Phillip Schofield when he was in the broom cupboard alongside Gordon the Gopher! Later on he was on This Morning which I didn't watch very much, but I knew he had a good relationship on camera with Holly Willoughby.
He always struck me as a nice guy. Maybe I'm naïve but I never even thought about his sexuality. I never even knew that he had a wife and family, but he does.
And then it all came out. Affair with young man on This Morning. The UK Press slaughtered him. Adulterer. Secret homosexual relationship. Sacked. Hidden in his house.
Yes he made a mistake. But I don't think it warranted the reaction at all. Don't we all make mistakes? It's unlucky for him that he's a celebrity and the Press will jump on him at the slightest notice.
He disappeared.
But by his choice he is back on the telly four years later. He's been taken to a remote island in the Indian Ocean. He was left there on his own, where he had to film himself. He had to find food, water, make shelter.
For the first 36 hours he ate - and spat out - a mouthful of unripe mango and a single limpet from the sea. But he found water.
He did this in order to show people who he is. Aside from what they'll have read in the papers. What I saw was an honest, stubborn, caring and practical man.
He mentioned a poem that his therapist gave to him to read. It's written by Emily Perl Kingsley and called Welcome to Holland. He explained that a lady had had a baby and organised a holiday in Italy. To show it the amazing places, the Colosseum, Venice, gondolas, Amalfi coast. They got on the plane and the plane instead landed in Holland. The lady was gutted, had been all ready for Italy, bought books, all kitted out for the place...but had to change. Modify her expectations, alter her plans to explore a different place. Look on this new place and get the most she could out of it with the skills she had.
When Phillip explained this I immediately took the subject of this poem as a representation of a TBI. After the injury you have to take what you now have and use it and apply it to the world that you live in now. I'm going to print this poem out and keep it somewhere safe for times when I feel low.
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