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Former This Morning boss Martin Frizell admitted the ITV scandal involving Phillip Schofield was a welcome distraction following his wife Fiona Phillips' Alzheimer's diagnosis.The former breakfast TV host, 64, announced in 2023 that she had been diagnosed with early onset dementia the year prior after experiencing "brain fog and anxiety", which she originally believed were symptoms of menopause.

Fiona was just 61 at the time and has since been cared for by Martin, 66, who she has been married to since 1997. In Fiona's memoir, Remember When: My Life With Alzheimer's, co-written with Martin and her close friend Alison Phillips, the former ITV editor said he enjoyed going into work during that tumultuous period because it meant he didn't have to think about the heartbreaking reality his wife was facing.

At the time in 2023, Phillip, 63, was forced to step down after it was revealed he had an affair with a younger male colleague at ITV. Holly Willoughby quit a few months later after a plot to kidnap and murder her was foiled by police.

Martin explained that being busy helped him as going to work gave him some form of "structure and normality".

He wrote: "I was busy with work at that time. We'd had big changes at This Morning with Phillip Schofield leaving, Holly Willoughby stepping down after the pressures of a serious kidnap threat, and Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard becoming the new hosts in March 2024.

"It meant there was a lot to sort out to make the show the best it possibly could be, but being that busy actually helped me.

"I loved going into work - not because it was an escape from what was going on at home, but because it gave me structure and normality. And it meant that I didn't have time to think about what was to come for Fiona. For both of us."

Martin, who was This Morning's longest-serving editor, stepped down from the role earlier this year to care for Fiona.

In the book, Martin recalled the heartbreaking moment Fiona thought their eldest son Nathaniel was an intruder.

He recalled: "One weekend, Nat was home from the Army and making tea in the kitchen while Fiona and I sat watching television.

"She became terribly distressed. 'Who's that man in the kitchen?' she asked me. 'That's Nat,' I said gently. 'Our son. He's home for the weekend.' She was in such a state that she didn't even seem upset that she had asked the question."