**Fiona Phillips’ Painful Struggle: Husband Reveals Heartbreak of Caring for His Wife with Alzheimer’s**
Veteran broadcaster Fiona Phillips continues to face the relentless challenges posed by Alzheimer’s disease, with her husband, Martin Frizzell, offering a candid and emotional glimpse into their daily lives. Having tied the knot in 1997, the couple’s marriage has been tested to new limits since Fiona’s diagnosis in 2022—a reality that Martin describes as “increasingly distressing” as the neurodegenerative illness takes hold.
Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia across the UK, continues to affect over 900,000 people nationally and remains the country’s leading cause of death. Marked by a gradual decline in memory, thinking, and the ability to carry out basic tasks, the disease’s impact extends not just to sufferers but to their families, who bear the brunt of emotional and practical care.
Now aged 64, Fiona initially mistook her symptoms—“brain fog” and anxiety—for the effects of menopause. Tragically, the same cruel condition had already left its mark on her family; both of Fiona’s parents battled Alzheimer’s, with Fiona taking a major role in their care until their deaths. It is with cruel irony that she now finds herself wrestling with the disease that shaped her family’s past.
Martin, a former ITV This Morning producer, has stepped back from his career to become Fiona’s full-time carer. Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Martin confessed, “I used to say good days and bad days, now I just say bad days or wretched days. I think wretched is a great word for it.” He highlighted just how much the disease confounds their daily existence, recounting, “In a cab ride lasting 35 minutes, Fiona asked me 72 times where we were going.”
The toll Alzheimer’s exacts is not only in memory loss but in lost identities and relationships. Martin heartbreakingly shared that while Fiona knows who he is “most of the time,” she sometimes forgets that he is her husband. On particularly challenging days, she has even expressed fear, once believing that he was abducting her. He admits that Fiona’s pleas to “go home” to see her parents are frequent, and that he cannot bring himself to remind her they have been gone for years.
These deeply personal challenges have been laid bare ahead of the release of their joint memoir, “Remember When: My Life with Alzheimer’s.” Extracts reveal the profound changes required in their home. Martin describes guiding Fiona through everyday tasks, such as showering and brushing her teeth, as her ability to remember each step has faded. “I wash Fiona’s hair because she wouldn’t know what shampoo or conditioner to use or how wet her hair needs to be or that she must rinse the soap suds out afterwards. And most nights I’ll say, ‘Right, we need to brush our teeth before we go to bed,’ and I’ll put the toothpaste on the brush and hand it to her,” Martin revealed.
Their two sons, Nat and Mackenzie, have also been caught up in their mother’s decline. Although Fiona remains determined to maintain her independence, her sense of routine and self-awareness is fragile. Martin notes that she sometimes dresses herself but doesn’t always get it right, often wearing clothes inside out or becoming fixated on a single garment, wanting to wear it repeatedly.
Fiona built a respected media career, best known for presenting ITV’s GMTV Today and as a columnist for the Daily Mirror. Before being thrust into the national spotlight, she began her career in local radio and has appeared as a panellist on the chat show Loose Women. Despite her diagnosis, Fiona occasionally appears in social media updates, recently thanking fans for their support and for reading her book—a gesture met with warm messages from fellow presenters, including Davina McCall and Alice Beer.
The Phillips-Frizzell story is one of enduring love in the face of inexorable decline. Their openness about the hidden reality of Alzheimer’s is helping to raise awareness of a devastating disease that impacts millions of families. As Martin continues to care for Fiona, their ongoing journey reminds us of the silent struggles taking place in households up and down the country—and of the critical importance of compassion, patience, and public understanding for those living with dementia.