Schofield: 'We were fair to Katona'

Phillip Schofield has denied accusations from Kerry Katona that he was not understanding of her mental health condition when she appeared on This Morning last year.

The former Atomic Kitten singer appeared to slur her words on the ITV1 programme, leading Schofield to ask if she had been drinking.

In a press conference for her new MTV reality show, Katona said: "I gave an answer about my bipolar. The public do not take it seriously, nor do interviewers or anybody for that matter.

"It's a serious illness, I told them what I was on, I told him it was medication. I said I had I had an illness and he just went: 'Are you drunk?' which I thought was quite rude."

In a statement, Schofield responded: "I still believe we approached her difficulties with a much fairer, gentler hand than she would have received in many other arenas.

"It is fantastic that she is attacking her problems head-on, it can't be easy and is to be congratulated. As always, I wish her nothing but health and happiness."