Phillip Schofield comforts Ferne McCann as she break down over voice note scandal | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

Ferne McCann joined Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning to address her leaked voice notes. The First Time Mum star was embroiled in a media storm when an anonymous Instagram account leaked voice notes claiming to be from Ferne. In the clips, she appeared to slam Sam Faiers and Billie Shepherd. Speaking on This Morning about the scandal, Ferne broke down in tears and Phillip rushed to offer her a tissue.

After watching a clip from First Time Mum, Holly commented: “Ferne joins us now. Oh, it’s hard to watch.”

Ferne broke down in tears as she agreed: “It is really had to watch.”

Phillip rushed to get a tissue, which he handed to the reality star as Holly continued: “It is hard to watch and this is the thing about reality TV which makes it so unique.

“It’s to capture the good times but it also catches these times, these very raw, often very difficult moments.”

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She told the hosts: “It definitely wasn’t my finest hour, and it definitely was a very difficult time in my life when those voice notes were leaked.

“I do need to take this opportunity to publicly apologise again to those affected.

“Obviously the words that I used were unpleasant and I have reached out privately to those people.

“It’s very difficult because I would love to sit here with your guys and my followers to share exactly what went on.”

Ferne continued: “But it’s now part of a criminal investigation so I can’t do that.

“But what I can say, these voice notes were from a time when I was in a very vulnerable situation and a very difficult situation for me five to six years ago.

“Since then, I have done a lot of work on myself, I have been in therapy for six years and I feel that I am a different person.

“Even though I can’t share my full truth and I know how frustrating that is for people listening, I know that one day I will get that chance to fully be able to hopefully sit with you guys on the sofa and be 100 percent transparent.

“I know that my story will be able to help a lot of women but until then I can’t say too much.”

This Morning viewers were not very sympathetic towards Ferne with many questioning why she was invited onto the show.

One fan complained: “Incredible that this “person” is still being paid and given a platform by @ITV after her true personality came to light. Shame on you @ITV and @thismorning.”

Another stated: “Turned over when she came on.”

This Morning airs weekdays on ITV from 10am.