Fiona Phillips' husband makes devastating Alzheimer's admission: 'She's not there'

ITV star Fiona Phillips was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of just 61, in early 2022. Now her husband says he is "grieving" her and talks about her in the past tense, as she's "not there" anymore. The former GMTV star put her symptoms of brain fog and increased anxiety down to the menopause, but doctors told her it was something much more serious.

Now in a devastating interview with The Telegraph, her husband Martin Frizell confessed he is struggling with the mundane parts of life - such as what to do with the cookery books Fiona can no longer read, or her designer clothes. The former presenter hasn't cooked for two years, and has "no appetite" for the nice clothes in her wardrobe, instead content to "wear the same T-shirt, the same trousers [...] day in, day out."

Now Martin has admitted Fiona is "not in the best place" as he promotes their new book, Remember When: My Life with Alzheimer's.

He told the publication he is "living with grief on a daily basis", explaining: "It's like someone has passed because bit by bit, she's not there. One bit will come back and then another bit will go. It's really tough."

Martin now cares for Fiona at home. He explained she still has moments of lucidity but has sadly deteriorated rapidly over the last year, and needs help with brushing her teeth. A drug trial helped to stabilise her condition for a year, with Martin injecting Fiona in her stomach three times a day, but after 12 months it stopped working.

Fiona has also suffered "psychotic episodes", believing her husband had kidnapped her in a state of delirium. He told ITV's This Morning: "She's got a kind of secondary problem that causes her to be in pain, a lot of pain, which adds to the confusion.

"In the book, there's a picture of her at the end of our road, picking the most recent picture I took, only a few weeks ago, and she's looking great, and she's kind of smiling, and she's got a coat on and what you don't know is, she thought I'd kidnapped her.

"She does recognise me most of the times. Doesn't quite know that I'm her husband, but she knows who I am. On these occasions, and it's not frequent, but every now and then, she'll want to go home to her parents. I haven't got the heart to say they aren't here."