Fiona Phillips has been battling early-onset Alzheimer’s disease since 2022, and went public with her diagnosis the following year. Her parents both suffered from the condition before her, and by the time Fiona turned 61 doctors had also delivered the heartbreaking news to her that she had followed in their footsteps after months of brain fog and anxiety.
Her husband Martin Frizell has been by Fiona’s side through it all, helping her to release the autobiography Remember When: My Life with Alzheimer’s. And through that journey, Martin has shared updates and photos of the former GMTV presenter as the pair struggle to navigate their new reality.
Martin’s most recent post showed Fiona sitting at the breakfast table with a spoon in hand, grinning at the camera as he issued an update on her condition. Fiona, who used to sport cropped blonde hair, now has brunette tresses reaching past her shoulders and greying at the roots, and looked happy as she tucked into a bowl of cereal.
Martin explained: “Fiona at breakfast today, at one point she was going to work with Andy Burnham as Health Secretary when Gordon Brown asked her to become a health minister in his government. If the new Prime Minister, who knows what Alzheimer’s can do from his father’s experience, follows through on making a difference to sufferers like Fiona, his dad and millions of others then he will become the most consequential politician of his generation.
(Image: Instagram)
“For decades no-one listened, dementia became the poor relation to cancer and yet it’s our biggest killer. Sadly it’s taken someone touched by dementia to take it seriously but how will we afford to treat it properly?
“Who knows, but when your family life is altered forever by a dementia diagnosis you won’t be quibbling about one or two per cent extra you’ve contributed to provide to a proper care system.
“If in doubt spend a day with an Alzheimer’s family and you’ll see why there’s so much hope riding on Andy Burnham and Louise Casey. It cheered up our morning.”
(Image: Getty)
Martin slammed the former Labour administration under Keir Starmer in February 2026 as he shared a snap of Fiona in a brown fluffy jacket out on the street.
He said: “So it was a choice, either get a dog or a jacket that looks like a dog. Paperback version of Fiona’s book out this week with a new chapter updating where we’ve reached and still zero government action on Alzheimer’s since I last spoke in the summer.”
Fiona looked cheerful in the snap, wearing a white jumper underneath her coat and a pair of brown sunglasses, with her hair still blonde.
(Image: Instagram)
