Fiona Phillips 'doesn't know her husband' as he gives heartbreaking health update

Fiona Phillips' husband explained in a heartbreaking interview on This Morning that she "doesn't quite know that I'm her husband."

Martin Frizell appeared on This Morning on Friday (11 July) to discuss his wife's memoir, Remember When: My Life with Alzheimer’s, which was published in June.

He sat down with hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary to share an insight into Fiona's current state, admitting she now struggles to remember who he is.

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"She does recognise me most of the time. She doesn't quite know that I'm her husband, but she knows who I am," Martin, who has been married to Fiona for 28 years, heartbreakingly told the ITV hosts.

Martin revealed that Fiona has anxiety but would "love to be" at the interview with him. He also added: "She's got a secondary problem that causes her to be in pain a lot, which adds to the confusion."

He went on to recall a recent incident where Fiona had mistakenly thought he was trying to kidnap her, as she failed to recognise him while they were out by their home.

"In the book, there's a picture of her at the end of our road. The most recent picture I took, only a few weeks ago. She's looking great, she's smiling, she's got her coat on. What you don't know is, she thought I'd kidnapped her," he said.

"This was us going out, because you get all sorts of delusions, because you get so worked up. She's saying 'I want to go home'."

He added that Fiona occasionally says she wants to "go home to her parents," but she doesn't have "the heart" to inform her that her parents are no longer around.

Explaining his approach during these moments, Martin told Dermot and Alison: "Well, what you do is, you say 'Let's get our coats on, let's get our shoes on', we go out round the block a couple of times and come back in. She says 'Oh, I'm home now'."

Fiona was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2022 but didn't publicly share her diagnosis until 2023. Both of her parents and her uncle also had the disease.

Martin admitted that Fiona had long feared she would be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s due to her family's history. He said on This Morning: "She knew this disease was going to come knocking at some point."

This Morning airs on weekdays on ITV1 from 10am