Fiona Phillips has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s (Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
ITV presenter Fiona Phillips has revealed she’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The 62-year-old journalist was told she had the illness a year ago after suffering months of brain fog and anxiety.
She is now undergoing trials as part of research into a revolutionary treatment being investigated by scientists.
Confirming her ‘heartbreaking’ diagnosis to The Mirror, columnist Fiona said the disease has ‘ravaged’ her family and has now ‘come for’ her.
‘And all over the country there are people of all different ages whose lives are being affected by it – it’s heartbreaking,’ she said.
‘I just hope I can help find a cure which might make things better for others in the future.’
‘It’s something I might have thought I’d get at 80. But I was still only 61 years old,’ she added.
The former breakfast TV host continued: ‘I felt more angry than anything else because this disease has already impacted my life in so many ways; my poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us.’
Fiona’s husband, TV’s This Morning editor Martin Frizell, 64, was with her as she gave the interview, agreeing that Fiona’s family has been ‘riddled with it.’
The GMTV host has chosen to share her diagnosis publicly after keeping it to herself for 18 months, admitting it was a ‘horrible secret’.
‘No one has known because I haven’t been blaring out loud, “Oh yeah, I’ve got Alzheimer’s”. And I have been so worried people will judge me or put labels on me.’
However, the mum-of-two – who has children Nat, aged 24, and Mackenzie, 21 – decided she can no longer hide her condition.
So, she’s hoping to challenge stigma and encourage conversations by telling her story.
‘There is still an issue with this disease that the public thinks of old people, bending over a stick, talking to themselves.
‘But I’m still here, getting out and about, meeting friends for coffee, going for dinner with Martin and walking every day.’
‘I just hope I can help find a cure which might make things better for others in the future.’