Fern Britton's 'awkward' live TV reunion with Phil Vickery after her cold revelation

Fern Britton had something of an "awkward" reunion with her ex-husband Phil Vickery on Tuesday morning. The presenter-turned author appeared on Lorraine to promote her latest book, but things took a turn when the Scottish TV favourite was doing a handover to This Morning.

Lorraine was all smiles as Fern - who was married to TV chef Phil from 2000 until 2020 - remained seated but disappeared as the promotion for her sister show commenced.

Neither Fern nor Phil acknowledged each other, as This Morning hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard described what was coming up on the programme, and included a plug for a cooking segment led by Phil.

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As Ben said: "Phil is in the kitchen with some delicious summer salads...", Phil simply nodded to the camera with his arms folded and the action cut back to Lorraine, who quickly wrapped up her own programme with Fern continuing to be out of shot.

The moment did not go unnoticed by Lorraine's fans, with one viewer even concerned that an argument would break out between the pair, writing on X: "Oh dear,that was abit awkward, phil vickery on this morning & fern britton on lorraine, both in the same building.

"itv scrambling for security now incase we bave a domestic btw them,two people that cant stand each other,this is not going to end well,i am here 4 it." (sic)

A second user said: "Awkward #Lorraine" whilst another claimed: "That link from Fearne to Phil (her ex) wasn’t awkward at all", and embellished their quote with a facepalm emoji.

However, another social media user was more positive about the whole appearance as the praised Fern's book, writing: " @Fern_Britton lovely seeing you on @reallorraine. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading #ACornishLegacy I couldn’t put it down!"

Fern's appearance on Lorraine's eponymous daytime show comes just weeks after former This Morning host Fern - who met her ex-husband on the set of Ready Steady Cook - revealed that Phil stopped talking to her after her mum died. She recently told Yours magazine: "He hasn't spoken to me for six years now. As soon as my mum died, he stopped talking to me."

But Fern has also admitted that she tries "very hard" not to say anything negative about Phil for the sake of their 23-year-old daughter Winnie. She said: "Winnie adores him. I'm not going to bad-mouth him in front of her; at least, I try very hard not to. I was the child of divorced parents and my mum never bad-mouthed my father."

After her split from the This Morning chef, Fern opened up in an interview with the Daily Mail and reflected on her struggles. She shared: "Life had knocked me for six".

She recounted the despair, explaining: "I remember endless days of indolence, not being able to go anywhere, not doing anything, not wanting to get out of bed."

Opening up further about life post-divorce, she said: "I'm rebuilt and I'm doing okay. I was lost, then I found a bit of purpose again and it's been lovely."

While appearing on the Book Club podcast in 2021, Fern also reflected on the huge personal losses she's suffered. She said: "Too much happened in the past couple of years - I've lost my marriage and I moved out of what was our family home."

Despite everything, the former Celebrity Big Brother star is aware that she and Phil had "great fun" together but they "simply needed to follow [their] own paths" in life and admitted to Woman and Home that it was the "right time" to part ways when they did.

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