The heartbreaking reality of Fiona Phillips’ battle with Alzheimer’s has been revealed in devastating detail — including the moment she accused her own husband of kidnapping her after no longer recognising him.

The former GMTV star, now 64, was diagnosed with the progressive brain disorder in 2022, aged just 61. Her illness carries painful echoes of the past: Fiona left ITV’s breakfast sofa in 2008 to care for her father, who later died from Alzheimer’s in 2012, just six years after her mother also lost her life to the disease.

Unable to appear herself, Fiona’s husband — former This Morning editor Martin Frizell, 66 — appeared on This Morning to speak openly about her condition, their family’s reality, and her upcoming memoir Remember When: My Life With Alzheimer’s, due for release on July 17.

Speaking to hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary, Martin described how family life has been turned upside down since Fiona’s diagnosis three years ago — sharing moments that left viewers visibly shaken.

He revealed that one of the most recent photos he took of Fiona showed her smiling at the end of their road — but the truth behind the image was far darker.

“What you don’t know,” he said, “is that she thought I’d kidnapped her. This was us going out. She was completely worked up and kept saying, ‘I want to go home.’”

When asked if Fiona still recognises him, Martin replied quietly that she does — most of the time — but no longer understands that he is her husband.

“She knows who I am,” he said. “But not quite what I am.

He shared another painful reality: Fiona often asks to go home to her parents — both of whom died years ago.

“I haven’t got the heart to tell her they aren’t here,” Martin admitted.
“So I say, ‘Let’s get our coats on,’ we walk round the block a couple of times, come back — and she says, ‘Oh, I’m home now.’”

Martin explained that one of the hardest lessons he has learned is never to argue — though he admits he is far from perfect.

“I’m not the Mother Teresa of Wandsworth,” he said. “I do get frustrated. I do end up arguing sometimes. You’re human.”

The couple’s two sons, Nathaniel, 26, and Mackenzie, 23, are also reflected throughout Fiona’s memoir. Although the book was written primarily with journalist Alison Phillips, Martin contributed more than 20,000 words himself.

He revealed that Fiona’s early symptoms — mood swings, confusion, and brain fog — were initially dismissed as menopause-related. She was prescribed HRT, but nothing improved.

“Eventually we thought, ‘This disease that riddled her family… it’s come knocking,’” he said.

Martin described the devastating moment of diagnosis in what he called “the starkest room.”

“The doctor said, ‘I’m terribly sorry, but I believe it’s Alzheimer’s,’ handed us a leaflet and went to make a cup of tea.”

The leaflet, he recalled bitterly, depicted an elderly woman with a Zimmer frame — a future that felt terrifyingly real.

“You think, ‘God… is that it?’”

It was during this discussion that Martin made the comment that stunned the nation.

“I say in the book — deliberately provocatively — I wish she had cancer.”

He quickly explained the meaning behind the words.

“I don’t mean it cruelly. I mean it because with cancer there’s hope. There’s treatment. With Alzheimer’s, there’s nothing.”

Martin spoke with visible anger about the lack of funding and awareness surrounding the disease, calling it “Britain’s biggest killer” and slamming the imbalance in public spending.

“We throw billions at projects like HS2,” he said, “but Alzheimer’s research gets the equivalent of buying a Starbucks coffee.”

He warned that once he stops speaking out, the disease risks “slipping back into the shadows.”

The family briefly tried bringing in a carer, presenting her as a housekeeper — but Fiona, still sharp and fiercely independent, saw straight through it.

“She didn’t buy it,” Martin said. “So we stopped.”

Despite anxiety, depression, chronic pain and severe sleep disruption, Martin insists that Fiona’s core personality remains intact.

“The old Fiona is still there,” he said. “She’s stubborn, independent — she’s still Fiona.”

In exclusive extracts from her memoir, Fiona revealed that her marriage had been “falling apart” before her diagnosis, as the disease quietly eroded her energy and emotional connection.

Martin later wrote of the family’s reality as “living grief.”

“Bit by bit, Alzheimer’s takes everything,” he wrote.
“Through time, even the most glamorous, glittering star will be wiped away.”

Now, the family say they are simply living day by day — holding on to what remains, while slowly saying goodbye.

Source: Daily Mail — https://www.dailymail.co.uk/