Rylan Clark grew emotional in a recent interview as he reflected on losing friends to 'cancel culture'. The 37-year-old former X Factor star, known for hosting This Morning and his BBC Radio 2 show, has a wide circle of showbiz pals. However, these friendships can become headlines when one party faces backlash.
Recently, Clark was reportedly 'devastated' over the scandal involving Scott Mills. The 53-year-old radio DJ was fired from the BBC after it emerged that the Metropolitan Police had investigated him in 2016 over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a teenage boy under 16 between 1997 and 2000. The investigation was closed in 2019 due to insufficient evidence. Mills has since kept a low profile with his husband, Sam Vaughan, only stating that he fully cooperated with the initial investigation.
Clark and Mills have worked together numerous times, notably as commentators for the Eurovision semi-finals. During Clark's appearance on ITV's The Assembly, where a neurodivergent panel asks celebrities questions, participant Jacob asked: 'How do you cope when one of your celebrity friends is cancelled?' The room gasped as Clark gathered his thoughts.
'It's really tough,' he began, struggling for words. 'Especially because some of them are not just my work friends – they're genuinely, like, close friends.' He continued without naming Mills: 'At the end of the day, if someone's done something wrong, then I understand why they can't carry on doing what they're doing. But I do feel today that we live in a world where people will wanna go for you and cancel you for the sake of just doing it, because they can.'
He urged people not to 'always believe what you hear or read' and added: 'Don't be frightened to ask why.' The group fell silent as Clark wiped his eyes, saying: 'God, this is like a lucky dip. You just don't know what's coming next, do you?'
His comments come after colleagues were reportedly 'shell-shocked' by Mills' sacking. A source told the Daily Mail that Clark and Mills were 'so close', predicting the aftermath would be 'rough' for the daytime TV presenter, who has been a 'rock' to his friend.
The Assembly interviews cover a range of topics, from Clark's famous veneers and orange tan to personal subjects like his divorce, infidelity, and family life. Clark told crew members he was 'so glad' he participated, even though he faced difficult moments, such as discussing his mental breakdown after splitting from Dan Neal in 2021.
He also opened up about fame, admitting it's 'not important' to him now. 'I've earned a lot of money over the years, and I'm grateful for that, but it became the one thing I hated the most,' he said.
When asked whether honesty is 'always the best policy', given his confession of cheating led to the end of his six-year marriage, Clark insisted it is. 'I'm OK admitting when I'm in the wrong because, actually, I don't deal well with guilt and I don't deal well with secrets,' he shared. 'It made me so ill. Like, so ill. And it sounds like a terrible thing to say, but I'm glad it happened.'
Probed on whether he 'misses' anything about his ex, Clark revealed: 'I never think about him. I miss feeling like I've got it all. I thought I had life done. I've got the job, I've got the family, I've got the marriage, I've got the car, I've got the house… I thought I had it sussed. I didn't have anything sussed.'
The Assembly is available to stream on ITVX.
