‘It’s wretched’: Fiona Phillips’ husband says presenter is ‘slipping away’ after Alzheimer’s diagnosis

Former GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips is “slipping away” three years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, her TV producer husband Martin Frizell has shared.

In 2023, the TV personality, 65, shared that she had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Aged just 61 at the time, Phillips had been suffering from brain fog and anxiety but had chalked this up to menopause, rather than the degenerative memory condition.

Standing by her side since has been Frizell, the long-standing boss at ITV’s This Morning who stepped down in December 2024 as he was “expecting [his] family priorities to change” in 2026. He and Phillips live with their two adult sons, Nathaniel, 26, and Mackenzie, 23.

Appearing on Lorraine on Wednesday (11 February), Frizell shared an update on Phillips’ health with the ITV daytime viewers who know her well.

There, he made the heartbreaking admission that due to the incurable condition, his wife no longer remembered major events, such as Valentine’s Day, or the Christmas and New Year that had just passed.

“It’s wretched; not just for her but for the family as well,” he said. “She's still there, but day by day, we can see it slipping away. Just to sit there and see this person who was, as you know, the most dynamic, bubbly, and had so much pride in how she dressed and what she did, it’s just a loss of dignity.”

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Frizell admitted that he had had to resist “slipping into a depression” while caring for his wife of 27 years, adding that while returning to broadcasting with his new podcast This Much Is True Crime had helped, he felt “guilty” being away from her.

“People do ask, ‘Are you OK?’ and I used to say, ‘It's not me, don’t worry about me,’ but I am conscious that I've never been a depressive person but I can slip into that,” he said.

“I don't want to give the impression she’s some sort of basket case as she’s very much with us. She still is the world’s most stubborn woman, and she’s still around the house.”

After quitting This Morning in 2024, Frizell helped Fiona write her memoir, Remember When. In one of the book’s final chapters, the broadcaster shared the biggest lesson he’d learnt from his wife’s illness.

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“The experts say you are not supposed to challenge someone with Alzheimer’s when they’re saying things that are completely wrong, but it’s very difficult when you are in that moment and you are just desperately hoping you might be able to get through to them,” he said.

“What am I supposed to say when she says, ‘You’re not my husband’? Obviously it’s not nice, but I don’t feel hurt by it because I know that isn’t Fiona talking. It’s the illness that has taken her mind.”

Frizell said that he believed in keeping up a rapport with someone with dementia, and that he believed in saying “no” despite how hard it can be.

“The textbooks say to never argue with a dementia patient,” he wrote. “Although, even before the illness you could never win an argument with Fiona, so we play along.”