• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Husband of TV presenter diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease reveals the heartbreaking symptoms he noticed

Home> News> Health

Published 15:00 6 Jul 2025 GMT+1

Husband of TV presenter diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease reveals the heartbreaking symptoms he noticed

Martin Frizell quit ITV's This Morning earlier this year to care for his wife, Fiona Phillips

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

Featured Image Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty

Topics: Dementia, Health

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

The husband of a TV presenter who lives with early-onset Alzheimer's has detailed the symptoms he initially noticed in his wife.

Symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer's and dementia include memory loss that disrupts daily life, difficulty completing familiar tasks and confusion with time or place, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

But the early symptoms aren't so easy to spot amidst a busy lifestyle, and that's what happened with journalist Fiona Phillips and her husband Martin Frizell - who also worked on TV for years.

Philips, 64, detailed her early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis in July 2023 and has spoken openly about it since.

Advert

The pair have lifted the lid on family life in the new memoir, Remember When: My Life with Alzheimer’s

In a new article for the Daily Mail, Phillips revealed that her husband noticed she would be 'totally zoned out of our family and our marriage'.

Martin Frizell has opened up about his wife's early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Martin Frizell has opened up about his wife's early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

'Don't be so bloody ridiculous!' Phillips would shout back in response.

Advert

She added in the Mail: "But, if I'm honest, I think he was right. I just didn't seem to have the energy for any of it any more. I didn't realise quite how seriously Martin felt about it all until one evening he announced he was moving out."

In the Mail piece, Frizell himself offered the 'brutal admission' that he wished his wife had been diagnosed with cancer instead.

He said: "It’s a shocking thing to say, but at least then she might have had a chance of a cure, and certainly would have had a treatment pathway and an array of support and care packages.

"But that’s not there for Alzheimer’s. Just like there are no funny or inspiring TikTok videos or fashion shoots with smiling, healthy, in-remission survivors,’ he reflected, adding that post-diagnosis you are just ‘left to cope alone."

Advert

Fiona Phillips now lives with early-onset Alzheimer's (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Prince of Egypt)
Fiona Phillips now lives with early-onset Alzheimer's (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Prince of Egypt)

During her time hosting GMTV from 1997 to 2008, Phillips cared for her parents who both had Alzheimer's.

Phillips said: "For the entire time, I had been combining my role as a TV presenter with caring for my parents as best I could. My mother had Alzheimer's and until her death the previous year aged just 66 I'd looked after her every weekend. Not long afterwards we discovered my father had also fallen victim to the disease.

"I was running on empty. By then I was working three days a week on the show and packed my other days with work too."

Advert

Frizell now takes cares for his wife, explaining that he helps Phillips ‘brush her teeth and shower’.

If you've been affected by dementia or Alzheimer's and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact the Alzheimer's Association via 800.272.3900 open 24 hours seven days a week.

Choose your content:

2 hours ago
  • 2 hours ago

    Chipotle customer finds receipt from 10 years ago and the comparison is making people want to cry

    Chipotle customers are understandably upset

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    100-year-old identical twins reveal secret to long life after celebrating milestone

    Bernice Frank and Gloria Lipman shared their wisdom for reaching 100-years-old

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Forensic psychiatrist gives chilling theory behind Bryan Kohberger’s motive after he confessed to Idaho murders

    Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to murder earlier this week

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Body found in search for man who vanished on vacation as police release chilling details

    Brian Tarrence was with his wife in Turks and Caicos before being reported missing days later

    News
  • TV presenter diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease reveals the first symptoms she noticed
  • Husband of woman diagnosed with early onset dementia reveals the first symptom he noticed
  • Family of man, 41, diagnosed with young onset Alzheimer's disease reveal the first symptoms they noticed
  • Man, 58, diagnosed with dementia reveals the subtle early signs that made him realize something wasn’t right