Schofield denies Kerry Katona “ambush”
Friday, October 24th, 2008
Television presenter Philip Schofield has denied that he “ambushed” reality TV star Kerry Katona during an interview on ITV1’s This Morning.
The presenter explained that he and co-host Fern Britton had not meant to cause offence in the live television interview when they referred to Katona’s slurred speech and erratic behaviour.
Speaking on the Chris Moyles Show on Radio 1, Schofield said that the star was “obviously very, very angry with us” for asking about her health, but said that the questions had not been planned; rather, they were prompted by her unusual behaviour.
He went on to explain that since Katona had arrived at the studio late, the production team had had no time to assess her condition.
“She arrived very late [and] didn’t give anyone any time to sit down and talk to her,” he said.
“She came through to the studio, we kissed her on the cheek and the programme went on air, so at no point had we any idea what condition she might be in.”
He added that there was “no way that our producer would have allowed that interview to go ahead, had we known the situation she’d found herself in that morning”, and said that Katona had “set herself up, or she was set up by the person who brought her in.”
After the interview, Katona stormed into her dressing room with a television craw from MTV who are filming for her new reality series Whole Again.
She went to her dressing room with a film crew from MTV who have been following her around for her new reality series, Whole Again.
“They’re going to get the footage of the aftermath, so I don’t know what’s on that tape and I don’t know what she said,” he told Radio 1 breakfast presenter Chris Moyles. “As a production team, we’re a bit sad this morning,” he added.
Katona’s husband Mark Croft has released a statement harshly criticising Britton and Schofield’s treatment of her on ‘This Morning’ and denying that she had been drinking prior to the show. He claimed that Katona’s slurred speech was due to the side effects of the prescription anti-psychotic drug Chlorpromazine that she takes to manage her bi-polar depression.
In the statement Croft said that he and his wife were “incredibly upset about the negative news stories which have surrounded her appearance on This Morning yesterday”.
“Kerry has always been honest about her bipolar depression, for which she receives ongoing medical attention and takes prescription drugs daily. The treatment which she is on has side effects, which include difficulty speaking and drowsiness. Kerry did attempt to explain this to Phil and Fern, and was extremely offended that they continued to question her further, despite seeing her obvious distress at their ongoing line of questioning.”
