Martin Frizell was welcomed into the Loose Women studio for the update
Fiona Phillips' husband, Martin Frizell, gave Loose Women viewers an update on her Alzheimer's while expressing his "anger" over a lack of support.
The 64-year-old journalist and broadcaster initially thought her symptoms, including brain fog, anxiety and a lack of interest in her marriage, were due to menopause.
However, she later learned that she had the neurodegenerative condition, which tragically took the lives of both her parents.
Her husband, Martin Frizell, gave up his job heading ITV's This Morning to look after Fiona. The pair married in 1997, sharing two sons together.
During Monday's installment of Loose Women, Jane Moore led the panel as she was joined by Kelly Brook, Janet Street-Porter and Brenda Edwards.
Martin was welcomed into the studio to discuss Fiona's book, Remember When: My Life With Alzheimer's. He offered an update on how Fiona is currently doing, and shared: "The good news is, there's some improvement in terms of her mood, not so much in terms of Alzheimer's, but being able to get better sleep, also having a better appetite."
He continued: "I think she's actually in a much better place than she was, maybe a few weeks ago... Anybody who's gone through Alzheimer's and almost everyone in this audience will know someone who's gone through it, music is a real great kind of leveller for them and really helps. It's a real comfort."
Jane then asked Martin how he feels when he watches footage from Fiona when she was presenting before her diagnosis. He admitted: "Well, Fiona's main problem with the Alzheimer's just now is frustration. She's someone who worked from an age of 11 and didn't stop working until a couple of years ago.
"So she'll watch the telly, and she'll get frustrated that she's not working, because she'll get anxious or frightened thinking about it. Having seen all those things and knowing her, I mean this was a fearless woman...
"Seeing her now in that kind of anxious phase, it's really horrible. But then, the whole of Alzheimer's is horrible. But she's still with us and sharp as a tack."
Speaking about the new book, Martin admitted that he originally offered to write a couple of paragraphs from the perspective of Fiona's family, but wrote 24,000 words instead.
He confessed: "I got so angry about what lack of support there is for Alzheimer's people."
Touching more on this anger, Martin continued: "It's probably too late for Fiona in terms of finding a cure or help, or even getting care. So, the government's said they're looking at social care, but they're not. They've kicked it into the long grass... I got really angry because when you think about it, it's all front loaded health in this country to early life.
"Once you've reached a certain age, it's like 'well they've had a good innings, just leave them be."
When asked what is one thing Fiona would want to say if she was in the studio, Martin replied: "One thing she would say is, because she hasn't got one, get yourself a hobby or a passion or something. So that when you get to this stage, there are things that you can actually involved yourself with."
