Former This Morning editor Martin Frizell has claimed that the Phillip Schofield scandal was a welcome break from home as wife Fiona Phillips’ Alzheimer’s progressed.
Fiona was just 61 when she found out that she has early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2022, and since then has been cared for by husband Martin.
In her new memoir, Remember When: My Life With Alzheimer’s, which Martin co-wrote along with journalist friend Alison Phillips, he revealed that going into work at ITV in 2023 ‘took his mind of Fiona at home’.
At the time, This Morning was facing a huge scandal as Phillip resigned in disgrace after more than 20 years on the programme after lying about an affair with a younger colleague.
His co-host Holly Willoughby later resigned after being informed by police of a horrific plot to kill her.
Martin – who is This Morning’s longest serving editor – has now said ‘being that busy actually helped’ as he going into work ‘gave me structure and normality’.
Former This Morning editor Martin Frizell (right) has claimed that the Phillip Schofield scandal was a welcome break from home as wife Fiona Phillips Alzheimer’s progressed
Fiona was just 61 when she found out that she has early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2022, and since then has been cared for by her husband Martin (pictured in 2016)
He wrote: ‘I was busy with work at that time. We’d had big changes at This Morning with Phillip Schofield leaving, Holly Willoughby stepping down after the pressures of a serious kidnap threat, and Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard becoming the new hosts in March 2024.
‘It meant there was a lot to sort out to make the show the best it possibly could be, but being that busy actually helped me.
‘I loved going into work – not because it was an escape from what was going on at home, but because it gave me structure and normality.
‘And it meant that I didn’t have time to think about what was to come for Fiona. For both of us.’
Following Phillip leaving This Morning, he tried to return to the spotlight on Channel 5’s Cast Away.
In his survival challenge, he was isolated on an island close to Madagascar for 10 days without ‘food or water’ and during the show, he also took a swipe at Holly after she distanced herself following his This Morning exit.
At the time Holly addressed Phillip’s ITV departure, she said: ‘Hello. Firstly, are you okay? I hope so. It feels very strange sat here without Phil.’
Appearing to reference the now-famous speech on Cast Away, Phillip was seen having a BBQ with his family before heading off to the island.
He gave out food to his wife Stephanie and their daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, and laughed: ‘If you’re ok, then we’re ok, and I’m ok… are you ok?’
In her memoir Remember When: My Life With Alzheimer’s, which Martin co-wrote, he revealed that going into work at ITV in 2023 ‘took his mind of Fiona at home’
Holly and her former Dancing On Ice and This Morning co-host Phillip were once close pals both on and off the screen.
However, the pair, who worked side by side for 14 years, had a major falling out after Phillip admitted to lying about an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a 20-year-old runner on the ITV daytime show.
While both ended up leaving This Morning, matters seemed to escalate with their fractured relationship when Holly released a statement saying she had felt ‘hurt’ by his ‘lies’.
At the time, Martin revealed that Fiona’s ‘long-term memory was functioning better than the short-term’ however she struggled to leave the house due to becoming more anxious.
Martin quit This Morning more than a year after the This Morning scandal, after first joining the broadcaster in 2014 as editor of Loose Women before taking over at This Morning.
The executive said in a statement last November: ‘Next year I’m expecting my family priorities to change so I need to free up time for them.
‘I love my team at ITV and will miss them and the thrill of live telly but it’s an always on, 24 hours a day, seven days a week commitment and I won’t be able to do both.’
Martin added in the statement: ‘It’s been a privilege to lead truly great presenters and producers, between us we’ve turned out more than six thousand hours of live topical telly, that’s around 20,000 items and the gongs are always nice.’
At the time, This Morning was facing a huge scandal as Phillip resigned in disgrace after lying about an affair with a younger colleague and his co-host Holly Willoughby later resigned after being informed by police of a horrific plot to kill her (pictured March 2023)
In the final chapters of the book, the former editor revealed that Fiona has since deteriorate and is now unable to ‘brush her teeth, shower and use her phone’ without his help.
He explained that his wife ‘wouldn’t know how to turn the kettle on now’ and instead of her previously busy lifestyle, she now ‘sits and stares for most of the day’.
Martin added that he has been ‘feeling isolated and lonely’ due to Fiona being ‘depressed and anxious and sad and I miss her, I miss my wife’.
The couple, who wed in 1997, share two sons Mackenzie, 23, and Nat, 26, who are also involved in looking after their ailing mother.
Both of Fiona’s parents died from Alzheimer’s and the presenter herself is an ambassador for Alzheimer’s charities.
But Fiona believes that whilst they haven’t spoken about her illness once since she was diagnosed, she is always thinking about it subconsciously.
The couple first met when Fiona was working on GMTV as a presenter and Martin was its chief correspondent.
He later popped the question after they had been dating for just four weeks, before they went to Las Vegas to tie the knot in 1997.
Before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Martin said the former Good Morning Britain presenter was the life and soul of the party.
And despite seeing the diagnosis coming as his wife became increasingly withdrawn and anxious Martin said when it finally came it was ‘awful’.
‘You realise that there are around 70,000 people who have early-onset Alzheimer’s and there is not a lot of help out there.
‘As a family we are just kind of left to get through it and at some point we will need more support but there’s just nothing really.
‘You become kind of invisible’, he told the Telegraph in a recent interview.
‘If you mention the word Alzheimer’s or dementia, it brings it to the front and it’s upsetting because she knows the way it’s going,’ he also wrote in Fiona’s new book.
If you have been affected by this story, contact Alzheimer’s Society on 0333 150 3456
