To think Fiona Phillips' dementia announcement has been timed to save her husband's arse

[kerrycgeorgie]

AIBU or cynical in thinking the timing of this announcement could have been orchestrated by her husband/pr team to divert attention away from his failings over the Schofield scandal and general bad behaviours amongst the IT exec?
To be clear, this isn't to deny the sadness of the situation, it is very sad especially given her age.

Yeah, the timing is off if they've known for a year. Still feel awful for her though, my Gran's vascular dementia was so painful to her and us. She was gone long before she died. not if her symptoms are becoming more pronounced it isn’t.

Plenty of celebrities don’t announce their diagnosis straight away in order to give them. Time to get used to the diagnosis in private, before they become the subject of internet gossip, or mumsnet bitching in this case.

Maybe announced as there would be huge press attention on them at the moment and she can't fly under the radar any longer so chose to release the info rather than having the press break anything.
Whatever the case its very sad for her and her family

Absolutely!
He will be doing everything he can to polish his halo and restore his reputation to something that benefits him.

So hubby will leave his job to care for his wife and won't be investigated / potentially be sacked?

Is that the line it's going with?

This is possibly the stupidest thing I’ve read in a while.

You're saying this because you're a decent person who wouldn't behave like that, he isn't.

Why be so nasty?

So do I. Poor woman. Imagine having your motives called into question at a time like this.

This thread is disgusting.

Don't know. Maybe? She still has the awful misfortune of Alzheimer's aged 62 so I don't begrudge her timing the announcement to suit her.

To add to the comments above about the disease -Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. To call it dementia is not misleading - just like saying cancer rather than specify the type.

When Alzheimer disease occurs in someone under age 65, it is known as early-onset Alzheimer disease. My mother was diagnosed with this, and is still alive living in her home with a lot of support at 84 years of age , its not a death sentence as some comment above imply, since diagnosis she was at children's weddings, christenings, many family parties and up to 2019 I'd say her mental health was good, her life was full, not so now as dementia is very advanced but she's 84.
Early-onset Alzheimer d has no cure., but there are a lot of drugs that are successful in helping people maintain their mental function, control behavior, and slow the progress of the disease. this is all good news and may of these drugs and treatments were not available when my mother was diagnosed.
we have other family members with alzheimers and i'd say my mother has done much better probably due to the fact teh early type seems to respond better to treatments and creeps up more slowly.

^This^

MN manages to reach the bottom of the barrel, scrape along the bottom, then just keep digging for Australia. This is about her and about a dreadful condition she has to come to terms with. Oddly, women are not defined by who their husbands are or what they may or may not have done - nor should they be. It's called equality. If it doesn't start here, where does it start?

Ah, now this thread makes sense, thank you @Clymene.

Is this the guy who when questioned about the toxic culture on This Morning, wittered on about aubergines and how aubergines are toxic?

If so, I can kind of understand why the Op has stared this thread. He didn't really cover himself in glory through the whole Philip Schofield issue.

Op I actually pity you and your poisonous mind.
Can you imagine if Fiona herself read this. The venom and toxicity on mumsnet these days is out of control.

Agreed

It never occurred to me, but then I am not a cynical person and had also forgotten about Phillip Schofield. All I thought was how terrible this must be for her and her loved ones. I knew that it had affected her family and she must have really dreaded that she too would have this terrible disease.

Who is she and what's the connection with Phillip Schofield. Never heard of her.

This x 1000. I am shocked at some of the comments on here , spiteful, vindictive and deeply unpleasant. Hope it gets taken down

Absolutely agree. First thing I thought when I saw this in the news. Poor Fiona. So sad for her but a very suspiciously timed announcement.

Not close enough to recent bad publicity to be an obvious distraction, but timed before he has faced any consequences.

Poor woman. Very unkind to start picking the bones over when she decided to tell people.🙁

I suspect she has gone public because some journalist has got wind and was going to publish a story. Typically that's what happens. She's on experimental treatment so someone has found out

I feel for her family, she's very young for dementia

Didn’t realise he’s standing for office.

What sympathy vote?

This is a horrible, nasty post. Fiona Phillips is well known in her own right. She has written beautifully over the years about her parents battle, and her dread that it was coming for her.
She has now started to forget very recent events, remembering the bus yesterday, but forgetting She has already told you about the bus 3 times in the last 10 minutes.
THAT is why it has been announced now.

Thus thread is fucking sickening.