A cold, rainy winter's day in London. Fiona Phillips, the 65-year-old former GMTV host who has early-onset Alzheimer's disease is huddled in a cab with her husband of 28 years, Martin Frizell.
John, who also presented Newsnight and Panorama in a remarkable TV career which spanned nearly five decades, passed away aged 79 on Sunday following a battle with Parkinson's disease.
Mr Frizell made the comment in a new interview with BBC Newsnight in which he spoke candidly about the former GMTV presenter's battle with the memory-eroding condition.
The former GMTV host, 64, who is mother to Nathaniel, 26, and Mackenzie, 23, was diagnosed with the progressive brain disorder in 2022 at the age of just 61.
When I became the main presenter on GMTV in January 1997 I felt like the luckiest woman alive. There was no way you could do that job without being totally alert.
Sixteen-years have passed since ITV brought the curtain down on GMTV, the breakfast-time staple watched by millions of Brits as they tucked into their cornflakes.