Husband of TV presenter diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease reveals the heartbreaking symptoms he noticed
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty
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.
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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'.
'Don't be so bloody ridiculous!' Phillips would shout back in response.
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."
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."
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.