FIONA Phillips has admitted she is too frightened to return to TV due to an ongoing battle with “brain fog”.
The former GMTV host, 61, has been suffering from the debilitating condition since entering the menopause.
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Fiona has admitted to The Mirror that she has “cried a thousand rivers” during the past few weeks and ‘fears for her sanity’.
She told the publication: “God, it’s horrible, I haven’t worked for the first time in my life, I can’t do television work because I’m so anxious and just scared of everything and I’m not that kind of person at all.
“I have the intent to do everything I used to do, but then your body, your brain, doesn’t let you.”
Fiona added: “I hope to God this isn’t the end of my career.”
RISE TO THE TOP
Fiona began her career as a reporter for a local radio stations in Surrey and Sussex.
She later moved into television, working for BBC South East’s Weekend as a co-presenter before climbing up the ranks at CNN.
In 1993, the mum-of-two joined GMTV (Good Morning Britain’s predecessor) as an entertainment correspondent.
Within five years, she was made a main anchor on the ITV breakfast show.
Fiona presented her final episode in 2008 before being made a regular stand in for Lorraine Kelly on her daily morning show, Lorraine.
But she has not worked for a year, after being ‘overcome’ by her crippling menopause symptoms.
Fiona told The Mirror it has left her “racked with anxiety” and “a shadow” of her former self.
She believes the root cause of her ‘brain fog’, which leaves sufferers confused, with fuzzy thoughts and poor concentration, is due to the new constant fear she is experiencing a result of her hormones.
The journalist and television star, who is married to This Morning editor Martin Frizell, also worries for her mind after caring for both her now-late parents as they battled Alzheimer’s disease.
Martin is said to have urged his wife to get in touch with Dr Louise Newson after she appeared on This Morning last week.
Raising awareness of the menopause, Dr Newson stressed during the eye-opening segment that symptoms of the menopause is far more than “hot flushes”.
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She said it can affect memory, concentration, and cause depression and anxiety. Dr Newson added that some women are even convinced they have dementia because they are affected so badly.
“I speak to so many women who are in real crisis with their mental health,” she added. “A lot of these women have been misdiagnosed with other symptoms because, as heath care professionals, we often haven’t had the right training.”
More than 7,000 women were said to have contacted This Morning after Dr Newson held a viewers’ phone-in later in the show.
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Fiona Phillips and Eamonn Holmes present GMTV in 2004
