FIONA Phillips has revealed she’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at 62.
The TV star, who had been suffering with brain fog for months prior to the diagnosis, is “heartbroken” at having the same condition that has plagued her family.
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She told the Mirror: “This disease has ravaged my family and now it has come for me. And all over the country there are people of all different ages whose lives are being affected by it – it’s heartbreaking. I just hope I can help find a cure which might make things better for others in the future.”
Both of Fiona’s late parents had Alzheimer’s and she cared for them in their final years.
The cruel blow, which Fiona has been secretly living with for 18 months, has come earlier in life than Fiona had anticipated.
She continued: “It’s something I might have thought I’d get at 80. “But I was still only 61 years old.
“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.”
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She is being supported by her husband Martin Frizell, 64, who is the editor of ITV’s This Morning.
Fiona added: “It’s a horrible bloody secret to divulge.”
The broadcaster is best known for being the lead anchor alongside Eamonn Holmes on GMTV in the 90s and early noughties.
She joined the show in 1993 as entertainment correspondent, but hit the big time when she was promoted to being the ITV breakfast show’s main host.
But in August 2008, Fiona announced that she was to leave GMTV for “family reasons”.
In a statement released at the time she said it had been “the hardest decision I have ever made”.
She said: “I love the job but I’ve got other responsibilities – the children, a home life and an elderly dad who needs me – and I’ve recognised that I can’t have it all.”
She presented her final show on December 18, 2008.
In January 2022, she revealed that she was too frightened to return to TV due to an ongoing battle with “brain fog” during menopause.
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