Martin Frizell says the 65-year-old has a new way of coping with her illnessNeil Shaw Assistant Editor (Money and Lifestyle)
13:17, 24 Feb 2026Updated 14:29, 24 Feb 2026
Fiona Phillips and Martin Frizell
Fiona Phillips’ husband says she no longer wants to talk about Alzheimer’s disease and says she is now ‘frightened’ where she used to be fearless. The 65-year-old retired journalist was diagnosed with the progressive, neurodegenerative brain disorder in 2022, and she released her book Remember When: My life with Alzheimer’s last year.
While she was talking about the disease a lot when she was penning her book, Fiona’s husband Martin Frizell has told how she no longer wants to broach the subject. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Martin said: “The book that she wrote last year was … she absolutely was talking about it. But now her way of dealing with it, and everyone is different, is she doesn’t want to talk about the A-word. And we don’t.”
Martin also revealed Fiona has chronic depression, and is “frightened” nowadays, when she used to be a “fearless woman”. He said: “She will just believe she has chronic depression, which she does have, which is another symptom of it as well.”
Fiona Phillips in 2020
Earlier this month, Martin told how Fiona no longer remembers Christmas 2025. During an appearance on Lorraine, Martin said of Fiona: “She doesn’t remember Christmas now, she doesn’t remember New Year. I don’t want to give the impression she’s some sort of basket case. She’s very much with us.
“She is still the world’s most stubborn woman and still around the house.” Reflecting on the impact Alzheimer’s has made on Fiona, Martin said: “There’s no way I could drive or we could take public transport as Fiona now rarely understands where she is going or why, constantly asking what is happening, probably four or five times a minute on loop for the entire journey.
Fiona Phillips in 2019
“Honestly, I got close to telling the taxi driver to turn around and take us home – Fiona’s only safe place – as the stress was unbearable. But of course that self-pity pales into insignificance compared to what Fiona was going through.”
Martin said the whole situation has been “wretched” for both Fiona and her family. He said: “She’s still there, but day by day, we can see it slipping away. Just to sit there and see this person who was, as you know, the most dynamic, bubbly, and had so much pride in how she dressed and what she did, it’s just a loss of dignity.”