Fiona Phillips's husband says Alzheimer's causes star to feel 'frightened' and 'depressed'
25 February 2026, 13:16 | Updated: 25 February 2026, 13:29
Martin Frizell told Good Morning Britain that his wife Fiona Phillips "doesn’t want to talk about the A-word – so we don’t".
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Fiona Phillips’ husband Martin Frizell has shared an update on his wife's worsening condition following her ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s.
He confessed the retired broadcaster, 65, who hosted GMTV for 15 years, was "frightened" by her future and no longer wanted to talk about her health issues.
Back in 2023, the retired journalist announced she had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s after seeking medical help for symptoms including anxiety and brain fog.
Three years on, she's "still very much with us", insisted Martin, but added that she was finding it difficult to accept or even come to terms with having the disease.
On Tuesday, former This Morning boss Martin appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain to give fans some fresh information about Fiona.
Speaking of his wife of almost 30 years, he told Susanna Reid: "She still looks the same. She was the world’s most stubborn woman, and she’s still the world’s most stubborn woman, which is difficult when you try to give her medicine.
Confessing she's now essentially in denial about her condition and wants to ban the word from their home, he continued: "The book that she wrote last year was … she absolutely was talking about it.
"But now her way of dealing with it, and everyone's different, is that she doesn’t want to talk about the A-word, so we don’t.
"She will just believe she has chronic depression, which she does have, which is another symptom of it as well. [She’s] frightened, yes."
Martin, who shares two grown-up sons, Nathaniel, 26, and Mackenzie, 23, with the TV star, touched on Fiona's familial history with the devastating disease.
He explained that both his wife's parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before they passed away, and believes she was always "more predisposed to it" as a result.
"She probably knew this was coming," Martin said. "It’s not an old person’s disease. You can get it at any age, children can get it and she got it in her fifties.
"We did have a test and they said it’s not genetic but she’s more predisposed to it because both her parents had it.
"We never spoke about it. Maybe we should – maybe the lesson is that people should speak about these things. It’s a difficult discussion to have. What should we do if X, Y and Z happens?"
Since Fiona's diagnosis, Martin has been urging the government to allocate more money to research around Alzheimer’s, adding: "Why are we not putting more money into Britain’s biggest killer?
"It seems to be that Alzheimer’s is the poor relation to all the other big diseases, something like cancer. The money isn’t there."
