Phillip Schofield reveals ITV bosses forced him to dye his hair after he turned grey at age 16
PHILLIP Schofield has revealed mean ITV bosses forced him to dye his hair after he dared to out himself as grey when he was 19.
The This Morning host, 56, says he was branded a “badger” and told “we didn’t hire a grey guy” after securing his first telly role with the channel.
“By the time I was nineteen I was colouring it and I went to live in New Zealand and that is when I dyed my hair.
“For the first time at 19 – and it was covered up for absolutely ages – and I’m not sure I’ve said this out loud before so you have a bit of an exclusive here.
“But I just signed a contract for ITV and I decided to let my hair go and my office got a phone call from the Head of ITV saying: ‘Can you please tell him to put it back? We didn’t hire a grey guy.’
“And someone else said ‘he looks like a badger’ so I went back into the grey closet.”
The TV star finally made the decision to fully embrace his natural colour over a decade ago and is now famed among This Morning audiences for his silver fox image.
He previously advised viewers to do the same in a segment filmed for the daytime show, saying: "It would have been quite cool at 16. You never know. Don't fall into that trap.
"Dying your hair costs a fortune, it takes ages and dyes your head, you just don't need to do it."
He also corrected co-host Holly Willoughby when she called him "grey-haired" during the same programme, telling her: "I like to call it silver as a matter of fact."