Holly Willoughby has said Fiona Phillips and This Morning editor Martin Frizell have been “very overwhelmed” by public support.
Former GMTV presenter Phillips, 62, announced in Wednesday’s Daily Mirror that she had been diagnosed more than a year ago with Alzheimer’s disease.
Frizell, also a former GMTV editor, has said he felt “sick” after his wife was told the news by her doctor and said “tragically” her family has been “riddled” with the condition.
This Morning presenter Willoughby said it feels “extra cruel and sad” as Phillips’ mother, father, grandparents and uncle have all had the illness.
She also told viewers: “Let’s send our love to Fiona and I know that so many kind messages have come through the show for them and I know they feel very overwhelmed with the support they’ve been getting so thank you.”
Phillips, who introduced Alan Johnson at the 2009 Labour Party Conference, has received support from Labour MPs including Harriet Harman, Yvette Cooper and Jess Phillips.
Former Daily Mirror editor Kevin Maguire and ex-GMTV presenters Eamonn Holmes and Lorraine Kelly have also said their thoughts are with Phillips and her family at this time.
Presenter Vanessa Feltz described Phillips on This Morning as an “incredibly bright, amazingly quick thinking, highly intelligent and very intuitive” person who she has known for more than 30 years.
She added: “So I can barely imagine how this must be affecting her because, she’s such an exceptional person.
“I’ve never admired her more than in her courage in telling this story today, because it will inform so many people, so many families who are going through this, and who are having to say ‘Yes, I know that I’m only 65 or 52 or even 45 or something but yes, this is what’s happening in my family’.
“And we need more funding, more research, we need help for people who are going through this, but she sees it with her mum and her dad and her family and my heart goes out to her.”
On GB News, Holmes, who was a co-host on GMTV alongside Phillips, said: “She always did fear that because her mother had it and her father had it, she always did fear that it would come after her and sadly that has been the case.”
He also said: “I think of my own wife… her father died, and her mother has to live with it at the moment and anybody who’s in that situation will be thinking, is it coming to me next?
“We wish Fiona all the best.”
