Fiona Phillips
Phillips in 2015
Born (1961-01-01) 1 January 1961
Canterbury, Kent, England
Alma materBirmingham City University
Occupation(s)Television broadcaster, journalist, presenter
EmployerITV (former)
Spouse
Martin Frizell
​
(m. 1997)​
Children2

Fiona Phillips (born 1 January 1961) is an English journalist, broadcaster and television presenter. She is best known for presenting the ITV Breakfast programme GMTV Today.

Early life

Phillips was born in Canterbury Hospital in Canterbury, Kent, the daughter of Phillip (died February 2012) and Amy (died May 2006).[1] Her grandparents ran the Duke's Head pub on Church Street in St Paul's. Phillips attended Kingsmead Primary School.[2] The family later moved to Southampton where Phillips completed her schooling at Millbrook Community School. After leaving school, Phillips worked for a short time at Mr Kipling's Bakery in Eastleigh, near Southampton. Phillips graduated from Birmingham Polytechnic with a BA (Hons) in English; she also undertook a PGCert in journalism.

Career

Early career

Phillips started her career in independent radio working as a reporter for local stations County Sound in Surrey, Hereward Radio and Radio Mercury in Sussex.

Moving from radio to television several years later, she joined BBC South East's Weekend programme as co-presenter, before becoming a reporter with CNN News, later moving on to become the station's entertainment editor, producing, reporting and presenting CNN News' entertainment output.

Television

Phillips in 2010

Phillips has presented other programmes, including the celebrity lifestyle show OK! TV, Baby House and Room to Rent, Carlton's entertainment guide Good Stuff, LWT's Friday evening entertainment show Start the Weekend, ITV's Sunday Night and the Rich and Famous series. Phillips currently writes an opinion column in the Daily Mirror on Saturdays and works as an agony aunt in New! magazine.

Phillips was a regular panellist on Loose Women in 2002, and was a guest anchor in 2004 and 2005. She returned to Loose Women as a guest anchor in March 2009 and again in March 2010.

In August 2010, she appeared as a panellist on the short-lived ITV chat show 3@Three.[3]

She took part in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, with professional partner Brendan Cole. The pair were voted out on Week 4 following several weeks of low scores.

Phillips had also been in the documentary The Killer in Me on 8 November 2007, a show that saw four celebrities agree to take a groundbreaking test that revealed the secret killers lurking in their genes. Phillips joined former England footballer John Barnes, political commentator and presenter Andrew Neil, and Heart FM DJ Toby Anstis who all found out their risk of developing 11 major diseases, including cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Phillips is a regular reporter for the BBC One consumer affairs programme Watchdog. On 19 March 2015, Phillips presented The Truth About...Sugar and on 2 June 2016, she presented The Truth About...Healthy Eating. Both programmes aired on BBC One.

GMTV

In 1993, Phillips joined GMTV as entertainment correspondent and was promoted to GMTV/Reuters Television's LA correspondent in December 1993. For over two years Phillips provided daily and weekly reports and covered a number of big news stories including the Michael Jackson alleged child molestation case, the LA earthquake, the first O.J. Simpson trial, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and the Oscars. She also interviewed some of the industry's biggest stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt and Mel Gibson among others.

From 1997 to 2008, she was the main anchor on GMTV, presenting GMTV Today every Monday to Wednesday. On 28 August 2008, Phillips announced that she was to leave her role as main anchor on GMTV for family reasons.[4] She presented her final show on 18 December 2008.[5]

Phillips returned to GMTV in 2010 in its last series, guest presenting on GMTV with Lorraine.

Since September 2010, she has regularly guest presented the ITV Breakfast programme Lorraine (successor of GMTV with Lorraine).

Film

She voiced the character of Katie Current in the British release of Shark Tale.[6]

Radio

Phillips hosted a show on Smooth Radio in the 2–5 pm slot every Sunday, starting from Easter Sunday, 23 March 2008,[7] until 2009 when she left the station.

She also stood in for Simon Mayo on Radio 5 Live from 30 March to 3 April 2009.

Personal life

Phillips has been married to Martin Frizell since 1997 and they have two children.[8] Frizell is the editor of This Morning.[9]

Phillips is a supporter of Chelsea F.C.,[10] although she followed her home town club, Southampton F.C. when she was younger.[11]

Philips has reported to be a vegetarian for over twenty years.[12] However in 2015, she commented "I'm mainly vegetarian, but I have fish maybe once a month if my body feels it needs it."[13]

In July 2023, Phillips revealed that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2022.[14]

Politics

Phillips is a supporter of the Labour Party. She said she had been offered a job in November 2007 as public health minister in the administration of Gordon Brown, as well as a peerage. Phillips said she declined due to her responsibilities to her two small children.[15] She attended the 2009 Labour Party Conference in Brighton, where she introduced an address by the Home Secretary Alan Johnson.[16][17] She was a panellist on BBC One's Question Time in June 2009.

Phillips is a patron of the anti-racist organisation Hope Not Hate, who have the slogan "Celebrating Britain's diverse society". In August 2014, Phillips was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[18]

Charity

Phillips is one of the judges of the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards, and for presenting the GMTV Emergency Services award. She has also been one of the judges for the Children of Courage awards. From 15 October 2007, she reported from Geita, North Tanzania, for one week to visit Neema, a 13-year-old girl who Phillips has been sponsoring, and her family, friends and local schools.[19]

On 13 March 2008, Phillips, while Age Concern Ambassador, presented the Age Concern Grandparent of the Year 2008, which took place in the Houses of Parliament.[20] She has continued as an Ambassador for the successor charity Age UK.[21]

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1993–2008 GMTV Various presenting roles
2002, 2004–2005, 2009–2010 Loose Women Panellist and guest anchor
2005 Strictly Come Dancing Contestant
2007 The Killer in Me Contributor
2009 The Wright Stuff Guest presenter
2010 GMTV with Lorraine Guest presenter
3@Three Regular panellist
2010–2012, 2015–2016 Lorraine Guest presenter 59 episodes
2015 Watchdog Reporter
The Truth About...Sugar Presenter 1 episode
2016 The Truth About...Healthy Eating Presenter 1 episode
Panorama: Pension Rip-Offs Exposed Presenter 1 episode
2017 The Truth About...Stress Presenter 1 episode
2019 Ryanair: Britain's Most Hated Airline Presenter

Films

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Shark Tale Katie Current UK voiceover

Awards and honours

In 1996, Phillips was nominated for the Royal Television Society Interview of the Year Award.

On 7 November 2007, Phillips received an Honorary Master of Arts degree from Southampton Solent University, for "being a person distinguished in eminence and by attainments".

On 21 July 2011, Phillips received an Honorary Fellowship from Cardiff University.[22]

References

  1. ↑ Pickard, Michael (13 February 2012). "Fiona Phillips' father dies". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  2. ↑ "Kent Lifestyle Feature: Fiona Phillips". BBC. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "3@three". Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  4. ↑ Fiona Phillips quits GMTV The Guardian, 29 August 2008
  5. ↑ "GMTV's Phillips hosts last show". BBC News. 18 December 2008. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
  6. ↑ "'Shark Tale' adds Britain's Fiona Phillips". UPI.com. 9 August 2004. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ "'Hope this isn't the end of my career!' Fiona Phillips details menopause 'brain fog' fears | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV | Express.co.uk". www.express.co.uk.
  9. ↑ O'Hare, Mia (20 May 2023). "Inside This Morning's 'brutal summer bloodbath' as Phillip Schofield quits show". Daily Mirror.
  10. ↑ "Celebrity supporters kick off 1GOAL campaign". Plan-uk.org. 14 June 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "Saints must go on, says TV star Fiona (From Daily Echo)". Dailyecho.co.uk. 10 April 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  12. ↑ "GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips opens her fridge". Closer Online. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  13. ↑ "‘I NEVER go to the gym’ – Fiona Phillips’ diet and exercise secrets revealed". GoodtoKnow. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  14. ↑ Russell, Rachel (4 July 2023). "Fiona Phillips reveals she has Alzheimer's at 62". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  15. ↑ James Kirkup "Fiona Phillips: I rejected Brown's job offer" Telegraph, 25 November 2007
  16. ↑ "Alan Johnson 'I love him', says Fiona Phillips". Wales Online. 29 September 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2009.
  17. ↑ "Video: I love you Alan! Fiona Phillips introduces Alan Johnson". London: Telegraph. 29 September 2009. Archived from the original on 6 October 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2009.
  18. ↑ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  19. ↑ "Sponsorship Stories – What Our Sponsors Say". Plan UK. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  20. ↑ Archived 21 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ "Fiona Phillips". Billy Marsh Associates. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  22. ↑ "News Centre – Honorary Fellowships". Cardiff.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
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