{"id":279328,"date":"2026-02-11T21:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/279328\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T21:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:25:09","slug":"its-wretched-fiona-phillips-husband-says-presenter-is-slipping-away-after-alzheimers-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/279328\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s wretched\u2019: Fiona Phillips\u2019 husband says presenter is \u2018slipping away\u2019 after Alzheimer\u2019s diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former GMTV<\/a> presenter Fiona Phillips<\/a> is \u201cslipping away\u201d three years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s, her TV producer husband Martin Frizell has shared.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the TV personality, 65, shared that she had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer\u2019s. 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.<\/p>\n

Standing by her side since has been Frizell, the long-standing boss at ITV\u2019s This Morning who stepped down in December 2024 as he was \u201cexpecting [his] family priorities to change\u201d in 2026. He and Phillips live with their two adult sons, Nathaniel, 26, and Mackenzie, 23.<\/p>\n

Appearing on Lorraine on Wednesday (11 February), Frizell shared an update on Phillips\u2019 health with the ITV daytime viewers who know her well.<\/p>\n

There, he made the heartbreaking admission that due to the incurable condition, his wife no longer remembered major events, such as Valentine\u2019s Day, or the Christmas and New Year that had just passed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wretched; not just for her but for the family as well,\u201d he said. \u201cShe’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\u2019s just a loss of dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

(Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Frizell admitted that he had had to resist \u201cslipping into a depression\u201d 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 \u201cguilty\u201d being away from her.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople do ask, \u2018Are you OK?\u2019 and I used to say, \u2018It’s not me, don\u2019t worry about me,\u2019 but I am conscious that I’ve never been a depressive person but I can slip into that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t want to give the impression she\u2019s some sort of basket case as she\u2019s very much with us. She still is the world\u2019s most stubborn woman, and she\u2019s still around the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

After quitting This Morning in 2024, Frizell helped Fiona write her memoir, Remember When. In one of the book\u2019s final chapters, the broadcaster shared the biggest lesson he\u2019d learnt from his wife\u2019s illness.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

(PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experts say you are not supposed to challenge someone with Alzheimer\u2019s when they\u2019re saying things that are completely wrong, but it\u2019s very difficult when you are in that moment and you are just desperately hoping you might be able to get through to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat am I supposed to say when she says, \u2018You\u2019re not my husband\u2019? Obviously it\u2019s not nice, but I don\u2019t feel hurt by it because I know that isn\u2019t Fiona talking. It\u2019s the illness that has taken her mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frizell said that he believed in keeping up a rapport with someone with dementia, and that he believed in saying \u201cno\u201d despite how hard it can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe textbooks say to never argue with a dementia patient,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAlthough, even before the illness you could never win an argument with Fiona, so we play along.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips is \u201cslipping away\u201d three years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s, her TV…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,156752,7386,156753,111,139,69,156754,437,109166],"class_list":{"0":"post-279328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-fiona-phillips","10":"tag-itv","11":"tag-martin-frizell","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-slipping-away","16":"tag-tv","17":"tag-tv-personality"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}