Ahead of the publication of their new book, Fiona Phillips and her dedicated husband, Martin Frizell, have spoken candidly about the realities of life with Alzheimer’s Disease, including the former presenter’s heartbreaking plea
In a candid admission, Fiona Phillips’ devoted husband, Martin Frizell, has opened up about the desperate plea she’s made as the couple deals with the everyday realities of living with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Fiona and Martin first locked eyes on the set of GMTV, back when he was chief correspondent. Although independent-minded Fiona had never intended to marry, they fell in love quickly and tied the knot in a 1997 Las Vegas wedding.
In the years since, Fiona and Martin, who share sons Nathaniel and Mackenzie, have stuck by each other through thick and thin. When Fiona, 64, was given a shock Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2022, after months of suffering from brain fog and anxiety, Martin made sure to be there for her every step of the way.
Now Martin has offered a devastating insight into how their lives have changed, with his “glamorous, glittering star” of a wife now vulnerable and in need of constant reassurance.
READ MORE: Fiona Phillips’ husband reveals her heartbreaking daily routine after Alzheimer’s diagnosis
In a joint piece penned for the Mail Online, producer and editor Martin shed light on the “isolating” nature of Fiona’s illness, admitting, “the dinner-party invitations have dried up”.
Martin wrote: “It’s not that Fiona would even want to go out for dinner, but sometimes it would be nice to be asked. I don’t think people are deliberately trying to exclude us; they’re just not sure what to say, and so they say nothing at all.
“And it does feel lonely. It feels selfish to say that because this is not about me – it’s about Fiona and she’s the one who is really suffering in all this. She’s the one who feels lonely and scared and is often in pain.”
Sadly, when Martin does try to head out alone, Fiona finds it difficult to be left, sometimes even begging him to stay. He continued: “Sometimes when I’m going out, she will say, ‘Please don’t leave me,’ because she wants me to be close by. And it breaks my heart that my strong, independent wife has become so vulnerable.”
In the same piece, Canterbury-born Fiona spoke of the challenges she faces as her “memory skips away”, with even her most precious memories now difficult to grasp – a feeling that she’s likened to “trying to chase a £5 note that’s fallen out of your purse on a gusty day”.
Paying tribute to her supportive husband, Martin, the mum of two shared: “I couldn’t be writing this at all without my husband Martin, and my closest friends, who are helping me articulate more clearly the thoughts I once had that are now harder for me to reach.
“I used to be able to talk to anyone about anything (a skill inherited from my mum), and then I made a career out of chatting to people on television. Nowadays, I can find talking about my life agonisingly difficult. Sometimes I get halfway through a sentence and I can’t remember where I was heading with it or the word I was looking for. It feels awful.”
Fiona was only in her early 60s when she learned she had Alzheimer’s – an illness she had assumed she wouldn’t have to think about for another 20 years. She had initially attributed her symptoms to going through menopause, but further tests revealed the devastating diagnosis.
Speaking previously with the Mirror, former breakfast TV host Fiona divulged: “It’s something I might have thought I’d get at 80. But I was still only 61 years old. “I felt more angry than anything else because this disease has already impacted my life in so many ways; my poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us.”
With Martin’s assistance, Fiona has penned a book called Remember When: My Life With Alzheimer’s, which is set to be published later this month.
Remember When: My Life With Alzheimer’s by Fiona Phillips (Macmillan, £22), is to be published July 17.
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