![\"Fiona](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_257712763-f627-e1785335875984.jpg\")
\n\t\tFiona Phillips was first diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s in 2022 (Picture: Ken McKay\/ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tFiona Phillips was first diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s in 2022 (Picture: Ken McKay\/ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
TV presenter Fiona Phillips<\/a> was all smiles as her husband, Martin Frizell, shared an update on his wife\u2019s ongoing journey with Alzheimer\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n The former ITV<\/a> presenter, best known for hosting breakfast show GMTV Today, revealed she had the progressive, neurodegenerative brain disorder, which most commonly causes dementia, in July 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n She had first been diagnosed with the condition, which both her parents also had, a year prior in 2022 at the age of 61 after months of brain fog and anxiety<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now 65, the TV anchor has largely stepped back from public life alongside her husband, who stepped down as editor of flagship ITV show This Morning<\/a> in 2024 to prioritise family.<\/p>\n The couple share occasional updates, with Frizell\u2019s latest Instagram<\/a> post offering a rare glimpse at the media personality, while he discussed Prime Minister Andy Burnham\u2019s promise to those with Alzheimer\u2019s and their carers.<\/p>\n Discussing social care reform, Burnham drew from his own experiences witnessing the care his father was given when he had Alzheimer\u2019s to champion carers, saying: \u2018To me, they should be the best paid people in society, not the worst.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t In the caption to his new post<\/a> of Phillips smiling at the breakfast table, he noted that she was once almost worked with the now-Prime Minister when Gordon Brown asked her to serve as a health minister during his tenure.<\/p>\n He continued: \u2018If the new Prime Minister, who knows what Alzheimer\u2019s can do from his father\u2019s experience, follows through on making a difference to sufferers like Fiona, his dad and millions of others, then he will become the most consequential politician of his generation. <\/p>\n \u2018For decades no-one listened, dementia became the poor relation to cancer<\/a> and yet it\u2019s our biggest killer. Sadly it\u2019s taken someone touched by dementia to take it seriously but how will we afford to treat it properly?<\/p>\n \u2018Who knows but when your family life is altered forever by a dementia diagnosis, you won\u2019t be quibbling about one or two per cent extra you\u2019ve contributed to provide to a proper care system. <\/p>\n \t\t \t\t \u2018If in doubt, spend a day with an Alzheimer\u2019s family and you\u2019ll see why there\u2019s so much hope riding on Andy Burnham and Louise Casey. It cheered up our morning.\u2019<\/p>\n Phillips is now in the advanced stages of early-onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease, with her husband occasionally sharing updates about her life now.<\/p>\n In recent months, he revealed that she received a letter from Kate McCann<\/a>, mother of missing child Madeline McCann, which greatly moved his wife, and it was as though the fog \u2018lifted\u2019.<\/p>\n He shared: \u2018I didn\u2019t realise until I read the letter that Kate McCann, herself a doctor, had spent almost ten years in [NHS] Memory Services, largely drawn to it because of her dad, who also had dementia.\u2019<\/p>\n Frizell then recalled that when reading the letter to Phillips, she began to tear up, remembering McCann\u2019s missing daughter Madeline, and it seemed as though she were back on GMTV.<\/p>\n \t\t He has also been open about the struggles she\u2019s faced. In August last year, he shared that her \u2018biggest frustration\u2019 is not being able to work<\/a>.<\/p>\n Appearing on Loose Women<\/a>, he explained: \u2018\u2018She\u2019s someone who has worked from the age of 11, at a paper round. Didn\u2019t stop working till a couple of years ago when the Alzheimer\u2019s made it difficult to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018She\u2019ll watch telly and she\u2019ll get frustrated that she\u2019s not working. She\u2019ll get anxious or frightened thinking about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018This was a fearless women. She spent decades doing this. Seeing her now in that anxious phase is horrible. The whole of Alzheimer\u2019s is horrible, as such.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tWhat is early-onset Alzheimer’s disease?\t\t\t<\/p>\n Early-onset Alzheimer’s is also known as young-onset dementia or younger-onset Alzheimer’s. It is the label given to anyone who receives a diagnosis before they turn 65. <\/p>\n According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, an estimated 70,800 people with dementia in the UK have young onset, and Alzheimer’s disease accounts for around one in three cases of young onset dementia.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is thought at least five in every 100 people with Alzheimer\u2019s are under 65, however the figure may be higher.<\/p>\n According to the NHS, the symptoms of Alzheimer’s can begin with usually minor memory problems, but can develop into:<\/p>\n confusion, disorientation and getting lost in familiar places<\/p>\n difficulty planning or making decisions<\/p>\n problems with speech and language<\/p>\n problems moving around without assistance or performing self-care tasks<\/p>\n personality changes, such as becoming aggressive, demanding and suspicious of others<\/p>\n hallucinations\u00a0(seeing or hearing things that are not there) and delusions (believing things that are untrue)<\/p>\n low mood\u00a0or anxiety<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"Fiona](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_306781832-7f33.jpg\")
\n\t\tPhillips has rarely been seen in the past four years, as husband Frizell reflected on the Prime Minister\u2019s social care pledge (Picture: Martin Frizell)<\/p>\n![\"Fiona](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_261182271-7be9-e1785337960568.jpg\")
\n\t\tHer husband Martin Frizell has been sharing regular updates (Picture: Dave J Hogan\/Dave Hogan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_306769512_59daa3.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe Instagram post was inspired by PM Andy Burnham\u2019s social care speech (Picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth \u2013 WPA Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Fiona](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_189719807-e1785338036189.jpg\")
\n\t\tFiona has not often been seen out and about since her diagnosis (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
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