Phillip Schofield has been unerringly supported by his wife Stephanie ever since his exit from This Morning – and it appears they may be battling through together with a pair of matching, beautiful chocolate brown puppies.

The star turned 62 on Easter Monday and was seen with Stephanie Lowe enjoying a  birthday stroll in the spring sunshine in West London carrying the identical dogs, believed to be cockapoos.

As well as Philip’s birthday yesterday, the Easter weekend also had a special significance for the former couple, as they would have celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary on Friday. It is not known if they spent that special day together.

Friends of Phillip’s have said recently that he has been down and trying to find ‘fulfilling’ ways to enjoy life away from broadcasting because his career and reputation has been tarnished.

And it appears he and his wife may have decided to get a dog each to help them through some tough times.

‘Stephanie has continued to support her estranged husband – now they appear to both have new puppies from the same litter’, one onlooker said.

+8
View gallery

Phillip Schofield was spotted carrying a puppy on a walk on his 62nd birthday yesterday

+8
View gallery

Phil was wih his wife Steph, who has supported him throughout and was also carrying a puppy identical to the other

+8
View gallery

The couple separated in 2020 when Mr Schofield came out as gay – but are not believed to have divorced

+8
View gallery

+8
View gallery

Phil carries the new puppy – believed to be a cockapoo

Phillip separated from his wife in 2020 after he came out as gay, but she has continued to staunchly stand by him despite his departure from ITV’s This Morning over an affair with a younger member of staff.

Phil and Stephanie have reportedly never legally divorced with sources close to the couple saying previously that she ‘still loves him’ deeply and will always remain in his ‘support system’ with their daughters Molly and Ruby.

Mr Schofield has not worked for almost ten months after leaving This Morning in May last year. His co-host and once close friend, Holly Willoughby, later left herself, with Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard taking over last month.

Schofield stood down from the daytime show after admitting he had lied about his relationship with a much younger colleague.

Friends of the star have said that he is ‘quite certain’ he will never work again following his admission that he had an affair with a much younger colleague and then lied about it.

One said: ‘Phillip has been very, very down recently. He doesn’t know how he is going to work again. It’s devastating for him to realise but he also knows that there is not a lot he can do about it. He doesn’t know who will take him. He knows there is no way back to ITV or the BBC.’

Sources close to Schofield say that his friends are trying to encourage him to think he can have a ‘fulfilling life’ away from showbusiness.

One said: ‘Just because he may not be on telly again doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy his life. Phil isn’t so sure though.’

The star has though been tipped for a job on national radio – his ‘first love’ – with Britain’s largest commercial stations said to be jostling to bring him in to woo new listeners from rivals, including BBC Radio 2.

An ITV report in December cleared bosses of a cover-up and did not mention any further damaging claims about Schofield’s relationship with a young runner on the show.

+8
View gallery

Phillip Schofield and Stephanie Lowe married in 1997 and raised two daughters, Molly, right, and Ruby, left, together until their split in 2020. The entire family remain close

Phillip pictured at a premiere with Stephanie and their two children Ruby (left) and Molly (right) in 2002

Despite claims of a ‘whitewash’, industry insiders told MailOnline that it opens the door to the star  getting a new big-money deal to return to work in 2024.

But a senior British broadcasting source said a return to TV for Mr Schofield is ‘unlikely – for now’.

He said: ‘Now that a line has been drawn in the sand by ITV over the Schofield saga, attention will move on.

‘Within a period of time there is now a place for Phillip to return, possibly not on TV yet, but there are now a myriad of opportunities for him on commercial radio where he will be offered big money to return to his first love.

‘The KC’s report gives him a fresh chance – but nobody will be surprised at all to see that ITV has found itself in the clear as it tries to save This Morning’.

Schofield quit This Morning after he admitted to a past relationship with a younger male former colleague – but neither men spoke to Jane Mulcahy KC, whose report came out in December.

Ms Mulcahy found that the unnamed runner’s promotion from This Morning to Loose Women ‘had nothing to do’ with Schofield and claimed that also ‘only one person’ interviewed had knowledge of the affair but ‘did not report their knowledge at time’.

Schofield started out in local radio in New Zealand as a teenager before joining the BBC, hosting a popular show on Radio 1 while presenting Going Live.

It now remains to be seen whether Britain’s most popular stations, such as Classic FM, Magic, Virgin, Heart or other giants now swoop. Greatest Hits Radio has also been on a hiring spree, grabbing big names such as Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo to take listeners from Radio 2.

But sources have said Schofield could soon be back in work.

Furious ITV staff blasted the external report into Schofield’s affair with a younger colleague as a ‘whitewash’.

One employee told the Mail of their ‘sheer bewilderment’ that only one junior worker was aware of the relationship.

The report found that ITV did not cover up the relationship and that station bosses had made ‘considerable efforts’ to discover the truth in 2019 – four years before the affair broke.

+8
View gallery

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby are pictured either side of the man with whom he had an affair

The external review found that the channel was ‘unable to uncover the relevant evidence’ until Schofield’s own admission in May when he told the Mail that he had been having the relationship and that he had later lied about it.

ITV bosses have said both Schofield and his former lover, who has never been named publicly, ‘repeatedly denied’ allegations of a relationship until the star dramatically quit ITV and formally apologised.

It added that only one person out of 48 interviewed – a junior employee – said they knew about the presenter’s relationship with the younger male former colleague before he revealed it.

Ms Mulcahy revealed that Schofield refused to take part in the review into the circumstances surrounding the his departure because of ‘the risk to his health’. She added that she was informed that the host’s mental health had since deteriorated.

Schofield’s former colleague and lover also declined to participate in the report.