CBB Fern Britton’s controversies from Phillip Schofield ‘feud’ to gastric band backlash

Fern Britton has been involved in her fair share of controversies.

The 66-year-old’s career spans more than four decades with her first official job in broadcasting coming in March in 1980. After nearly 20 years in the industry, she landed a role on ITV’s This Morning.

Fern, who is currently in the Celebrity Big Brother house, presented the ITV flagship programme from 1999 until 2009. She shared the sofa with Phillip Schofield for seven years until her departure.

READ MORE: Fern Britton’s love life – ’20 happy years with co-star’, divorce and CBB swipe at ex

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Feud rumours have engulfed the pair since she decided to step down from This Morning. But this isn’t the only time she’s ruffled some feathers.

Rumoured Phillip feud

After spending more than a decade as a presenter on This Morning, Fern announced her departure in 2009. The statement she shared got people talking, as she failed to mention her co-host Phillip Schofield.

The statement said: “After ten years with This Morning, I have decided to leave the show at the end of the current series. I will present my last show on July 17, my birthday, which seems somehow appropriate.

She continued: “The This Morning team are simply the best and I will miss them all very much but I am looking forward to the freedom of exploring other things I want to do, and also spend more time with my wonderful family. So, many thank yous to all our viewers who have shown me so much kindness and loyalty.”

Just two days later, the TV star pulled out of hosting the British Soap Awards alongside Phillip, fuelling further speculation that they had fallen out. Fern opened up about her exit from the show in 2020 during an appearance on the Ray D’Arcy Show.

It was reported that Fern felt slighted by Phillip as he’d opted to stay on the show. But she seemed to suggest they got on well, telling MailOnline: “We enjoyed a laugh, viewers seemed to warm to that. We chose not to live in each other’s pockets. We were a great professional partnership but we never went on holiday together”.

It was believed her departure had something to do with the difference in salary between her and Phil, but she shut down these claims. She said: “Something happened and I thought, ‘That’s it really’ and I walked away and resigned. I was treated pretty poorly, actually. And after a while I just thought, ‘Sod it’.”

Phil discussed a clash with Fern in his book Life is What You Make It. He said they’d argued about a This Morning episode, writing: “I walked back into the makeup room and calmly said, ‘Please don’t do that to me again.’ I think, for whatever reason, that was the point Fern decided she didn’t want to do This Morning any more.”

Schofield affair

Following news that Phillip Schofield had an affair with a young male colleague while married, Fern appeared to allude to the scandal when she took to Twitter, now X. Hours after the 61-year-old’s affair became public knowledge, she wrote: “Unexpected calls from old mates are so lovely. Just had the loveliest catch-up with @EamonnHolmes.

“I think we have known each other since the 80s when we were babies. Shooting the breeze.” While Fern didn’t explicitly refer to Phillip’s departure at the time, it looked to be a dig as Eamonn had an extremely public fallout with Phillip.

Marriage breakdown

Fern was married to Clive Jones from 1988 until 2000. In 2022, she opened up about the bizarre tow that led to the breakdown of her marriage with the TV executive.

It turns out “an immense rift” was caused over the of a Mensa IQ test. But things didn’t go to plan when Fern attempted to test her knowledge.

“I lied, I said I was going somewhere else, and it took a day to do this test,” she said on the Walking The Dog with Emily Dean podcast. “I passed- and quite well too.”

Clive was reportedly so unhappy with the results that a rift formed in their marriage. The newsreader added: “He was furious so he did it because he’s got a huge brain. But he’s not a problem solver and he didn’t get it. So an immense rift opened.” The couple welcomed three children during their marriage; Jack, Harry and Grace.

Gastric band-gate

After undergoing a gastric band in 2006, Fern came under fire for how she achieved her incredible body transformation. While she claimed it came from “lots of hard work”, the time was referred to as gastric band-gate.

She went from a size 22 to 12, with the public questioning her method. Two years later, the saga came to an end when Fern revealed she had the surgery.

The saga appeared to have an impact on her place on This Morning, as she explained to TalkRADIO in 2020. She told the outlet: “It was all gastric band-gate. It ruffled features. I think perhaps I became a bit of a liability to ITV. I really don’t know.”

She continued: “But I know that the day I decided to leave – and I’m not going to get into this now – something happened that morning I decided to leave and I thought, ‘I’m done’ and ITV went, ‘Thanks very much, goodbye’.”

Shock betrayal

Following the end of her marriage to Clive, Fern moved on with TV chef Phil Vickery. They announced their separation in 2020 after 20 years of marriage.

Two years after their breakup, Phil was caught kissing Lorraine Stanton – a close friend of Fern’s. The 62-year-old was spotted locking lips with the hospitality worker after the pair enjoyed a lunch date in London.

Lorraine had been a close friend of Fern’s for a number of years, with the pair previously posing for a number of snaps together. Fern addressed the photos on her social media, shutting down rumours that Phil was unfaithful during their marriage.

“Good morning all. Just to clear up any concerns it is not true,” she wrote. It was reported Fern was devastated by the ordeal, with a friend of hers telling The Sun: “Phil and Lorraine kissing on the street like this will be heartbreaking for poor Fern.

“They look like teenagers in love and that will be just so hurtful for her. Given her close friendship with Lorraine, the source said that the TV host would see their public display of affection as “a betrayal”. They added: “They are two of the most important people in her life and them behaving this way in public will feel like a betrayal.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk