Perdita
17-02-2009, 12:26
Former newsreader John Suchet broke down during a live interview on BBC Breakfast as he gave an emotional account of his wife Bonnie's account with Alzheimer's.
The former ITN newsreader was overcome during an interview on the breakfast show as he told hosts Jon Sopel and Louise Minchin how his wife was unaware that she had the illness, or that he was on the TV talking about it.
The award-winning presenter also struggled to hold back tears as he spoke about how he sometimes beats up a cushion sometimes as a way to cope.
Mr Suchet said he was sharing his pain so that he could make people more aware of the reality of dementia.
The 64-year-old newsreader said that she was first diagnosed with the illness in 2006, but they kept it a secret for the past three years.
And in a heartbreaking admittance, he told of how his wife of 24 years has 'died'.
Mr Suchet, who currently presents Five News, spoke of the devastation the illness has brought to his family.
He said: 'The past we shared is a closed book for her. The Bonnie I loved has actually gone. Dementia has taken her.
'My Bonnie has gone, it's as if she has died.'
Mr Suchet said he wished his 67-year-old wife, who is American, had cancer instead, adding: 'I cannot believe I'm saying these words but it will give you some idea of how cruel this illness is. If she had cancer rather than dementia we would still be intimate and be figuring out how to fight the bloody thing.
'If you've got cancer it shows. People know. They talk about it. They share their fears. I can't talk about it because she doesn't know.
'We can't sit down and say "Damn this bloody disease" and decide how we will get through.
'I find that one of the most difficult things of all.'
He revealed he had kept the disease a secret for fear it would be 'a betrayal or a discourtesy... because I am not the one with the disease, it's my darling Bonnie who has the disease.'
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Suchet added: 'But in planning for old age, I had forgotten the most important aspect: health.
'You hope you'll always get away with it.
'I had assumed we would die in one another's arms with Beethoven playing in the background.'
Just a year before her diagnosis, John Suchet took his wife on a surprise trip on the Orient Express for their 20th wedding anniversary.
The newsreader, who is the older brother of actor David Suchet, spent £15,000 given to him to attend a banking conference on the treat for Bonnie.
At the time he said: 'I have a very good agent who about four years ago secured me a £15,000 job to facilitate a two-day banking conference. I hated it. My agent knows I won't do that kind of thing any more, but at the time, I'm ashamed to say, I did it for the money.
'I spent it on our 20th wedding anniversary. I told Bonnie that we were going on another boring Beethoven research trip to Vienna. In Victoria station, I said right, we're taking the bloody Gatwick Express, and then I took her by the shoulder and directed her to the Orient Express. She looked at it and just burst into tears.'
The couple have three grown-up sons and live in central London.
I feel for him :(
The former ITN newsreader was overcome during an interview on the breakfast show as he told hosts Jon Sopel and Louise Minchin how his wife was unaware that she had the illness, or that he was on the TV talking about it.
The award-winning presenter also struggled to hold back tears as he spoke about how he sometimes beats up a cushion sometimes as a way to cope.
Mr Suchet said he was sharing his pain so that he could make people more aware of the reality of dementia.
The 64-year-old newsreader said that she was first diagnosed with the illness in 2006, but they kept it a secret for the past three years.
And in a heartbreaking admittance, he told of how his wife of 24 years has 'died'.
Mr Suchet, who currently presents Five News, spoke of the devastation the illness has brought to his family.
He said: 'The past we shared is a closed book for her. The Bonnie I loved has actually gone. Dementia has taken her.
'My Bonnie has gone, it's as if she has died.'
Mr Suchet said he wished his 67-year-old wife, who is American, had cancer instead, adding: 'I cannot believe I'm saying these words but it will give you some idea of how cruel this illness is. If she had cancer rather than dementia we would still be intimate and be figuring out how to fight the bloody thing.
'If you've got cancer it shows. People know. They talk about it. They share their fears. I can't talk about it because she doesn't know.
'We can't sit down and say "Damn this bloody disease" and decide how we will get through.
'I find that one of the most difficult things of all.'
He revealed he had kept the disease a secret for fear it would be 'a betrayal or a discourtesy... because I am not the one with the disease, it's my darling Bonnie who has the disease.'
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Suchet added: 'But in planning for old age, I had forgotten the most important aspect: health.
'You hope you'll always get away with it.
'I had assumed we would die in one another's arms with Beethoven playing in the background.'
Just a year before her diagnosis, John Suchet took his wife on a surprise trip on the Orient Express for their 20th wedding anniversary.
The newsreader, who is the older brother of actor David Suchet, spent £15,000 given to him to attend a banking conference on the treat for Bonnie.
At the time he said: 'I have a very good agent who about four years ago secured me a £15,000 job to facilitate a two-day banking conference. I hated it. My agent knows I won't do that kind of thing any more, but at the time, I'm ashamed to say, I did it for the money.
'I spent it on our 20th wedding anniversary. I told Bonnie that we were going on another boring Beethoven research trip to Vienna. In Victoria station, I said right, we're taking the bloody Gatwick Express, and then I took her by the shoulder and directed her to the Orient Express. She looked at it and just burst into tears.'
The couple have three grown-up sons and live in central London.
I feel for him :(