Fiona Phillips’ husband, Martin Frizell, on her Alzheimer’s diagnosis

The husband of the television presenter Fiona Phillips says that they have become socially isolated since the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

Phillips, which hosted ITV’s GMTV breakfast program, announced in 2023 that it had been diagnosed with Alzheimer in the previous year, at the age of 61.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Martin Frizell, former editor of ITV This Morning, said: “You become almost invisible.”

He added: “We still have close friends. But I think people think, oh my God, Fiona, maybe she doesn’t have the same appearance, or that they don’t know what to say, or that highlights their own mortality.”

At the time of her diagnosis, Phillips said that she had suffered months of cerebral fog and anxiety – and initially attributed the symptoms to menopause.

“This is something I might have thought of being at 80,” said Phillips. “But I was only 61 years old.”

Mr. Frizell said he no longer knew what to do with his cooking books or his creative clothes – the two things she no longer uses.

“Fiona has not cooked for two years,” he said.

“A part of the sorrow is now that she has this dressing room full of the most amazing clothes, but this horrible disease means that she is more than happy who carries the same t -shirt, the same pants, the same thing – day after day.”

The mother of two children Phillips has written a memoir since her diagnosis, which should be published on Thursday.

Mr. Frizell contributed to the book, saying that he intended to write “some paragraphs” but ended up writing “24,000 words”.

“I started writing on the great woman she is and how horrible and terribly unlucky she is the last in the long line of her family to obtain it,” he told Telegraph.

“Then, I got angry with the little support. As a family, we cross it and at some point, we will need more support, but there is nothing really.”

In 2023, Phillips said that the disease had “decimated” his family – with his mother, his father and his uncle all receiving a diagnosis.

She had taken care of her parents and had made two documentaries on the disease – one in 2009 called mom, dad, Alzheimer and I, on the history of the dementia of her family, and my family and Alzheimer in 2010.

The NHS says that the term dementia includes “a group of symptoms associated with a continuous decline in brain function”.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in the United Kingdom – but its exact cause is not yet fully understood. There is currently no cure for the disease, although certain treatments can temporarily improve symptoms.

One person born out of three born in the United Kingdom will receive a diagnosis of dementia, according to the charitable organization of Alzheimer’s society.

Addressing ITV this morning Friday, Mr. Frizell said: “The company decided that we are not going to take it as seriously as we should.

“The money that is there for the search for Alzheimer’s is like buying a cup of Starbucks coffee, essentially trying to fight a disease. It is impossible.”

Phillips presented GMTV between 1993 and 2008. She has since directed a number of documentaries and episodes of Panorama, and was a columnist for the mirror.