British TV presenter Fiona Phillips announced in 2022 that she had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
Now, in an interview, the 62-year-old former TV host has revealed she believes her 11-year run of presenting breakfast television could have caused her to get the disease at a relatively young age.
Phillips, who used to get up at around 3am for her shifts presenting ITV breakfast show GMTV between 1997 and 2008, told Woman&Home Magazine:
“I ask myself why I got this dreadful disease. I wonder whether all the years of getting up so early when I was working on GMTV contributed to me getting Alzheimer’s so young.”
Phillips shared that she had benefited from being put on a drugs trial in an attempt to slow down her symptoms, a protocol she said seemed to be working.
She said: “I’m taking part in a revolutionary drug trial that’s trying to find a cure. It involves a brand-new drug and a placebo, and I have no idea which one I’m on.
”When I went for my six-month check-up in October, they did cognitive tests to see where my brain was at, which showed that I was in the same place as I was the previous year.
“I’m hopeful that the drug is holding the disease where it is. I’d rather not have to be on the trial but I’m very grateful I am.
“There are risks, including bleeding on the brain, so I’m a guinea pig, but there’s a real chance it could help.”
Phillips previously worked for the BBC and for CNN. She is married to Martin Frizell, the editor of This Morning, ITV’s flagship daytime show, which has been plagued this year with a gamut of bad headlines, including the departure of hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
