The broadcaster who presented ITV breakfast show GMTV from 1997 to 2007, revealed this in a recent interview, where she spoke about how the illness has had such an awful impact on her family, with her mother, father and uncle having previously been diagnosed with dementia.
“My poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It just keeps coming back for us”, Phillips said, adding that she was "more angry than anything else".
She added, “It’s something I might have thought I’d get at 80. But I was still only 61 years old”.
Elsewhere, Fiona Phillips vowed to "carry on" despite her diagnosis, while paying tribute to her husband Martin Frizell, who has been helping her to take her medication Miridesap, a drug which may help to slow the disease. Martin Frizell is also the editor of ITV show, 'This Morning'.
“Poor Martin, he has been injecting my stomach every day, he has been brilliant”, she said. “The drugs are brand new and they’re expecting a lot from this and so am I”.
Meanwhile, Fiona Phillips insisted that she is “just getting on with it, I’m not taking notice of it”.
“I’m just doing what I normally do. I don’t want to not work, be sitting around playing with my fingers, or watching telly. I just like doing things”, she added.
Along with hosting GMTV for a decade, Fiona Phillips also presented a documentary about her family's battles with the disease for Channel Four Mum, Dad, Alzheimer’s and Me in 2009.
