Angela Rippon is well-known for her journalistic coverage of the royals, with the star planning to cover King Charles’s coronation for TV in May – but what some of her followers might not know is that she is an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society too.
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, the 78-year-old revealed why the charity has personal significance for her, while remembering her late mum Edna.
Edna was diagnosed with vascular dementia after a concerned Angela took her to see a doctor, questioning her personality change.
“I was just anxious about the fact that my mum’s character was changing and she was not well,” she explained.
“My father had died, I think the year before, and they’d been married for over 60 years. They were joined at the hip, and that had a terrific effect on my mum.
“I think I had put, first of all, some of her problems down to the way that she was grieving for my father, but just realised that it was going on too long, so I did consult our local GP.”
She noticed that her mum had developed agoraphobia, a fear of open spaces, and that she struggled to spend time outdoors.
On top of that, she had become aggressive and argumentative, distrustful and had a tendency to forget things.
Angela soon realised there was no point arguing when her mum’s condition intensified.
“It was no good saying to my mum: ‘Mum, of course you can’t [see her] – granny’s dead’, because if my mother in her mind thought she was going to see her that afternoon, she would suddenly be incredibly distressed thinking that her mum had died,” she reasoned.
“You have to be very patient, you have to be very understanding, and obviously you have to inhabit your loved one’s world very often. You have to join them in their parallel universe,” Angela continued.
“If you’re distressing them, you make them realise that there is something terribly, terribly wrong. It’s better to go along with what they’re saying, and then change the subject.”
She would also receive the same questions several times a morning some days, but “learnt to say things as if I was telling her something for the first time”.
The most important message that Angela wants to communicate about the Alzheimer’s Society is that it’s still possible for sufferers to live a fulfilling life, with the right support and understanding around them.
“I want them to have the dignity of knowing that they are not being treated as an outsider, that they are still very much an integral part of our lives and families,” she explained.
“If you are a person with dementia, you can live well with it and it’s up to the person themselves being prepared to accept some of the limitations that come with it, but more importantly, for carers to be able to say: ‘My loved one [is] still an important and much loved and respected person within the family.”
A third of us will develop dementia in our lifetimes. Alzheimer’s Society vows to help end the devastation caused by dementia, providing help and hope for everyone affected. For more information or to donate visit alzheimers.org.uk
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