Tony Christie and his wife Sue Christie joined Loose Women to discuss the early signs of the singer's dementia and how the couple are moving forward with the diagnosis together.
Host Coleen Nolan asked: "What were the signs initially?"
Tony, 80, who revealed he had been diagnosed with the disease in January, replied: "I've been a crossword addict for all my life, basically cryptic [crosswords] and I suddenly started having problems solving and forgetting names. And it was my wife Sue that said, ‘I think we should go and see a specialist.’"
Sue admitted she had started to “spot changes” in her husband before the diagnosis.
“He'd get anxious and cross with himself when he couldn't do the puzzles and I said, ‘Look, I think it's time we get your checked down because it kept saying, ‘I'm losing it. I'm losing it,'" Sue explained.
Tony recalled being seen by a specialist before undergoing a series of tests and subsequently receiving his diagnosis.
The iconic singer explained he shared his diagnosis with the world because a "lot of people are embarrassed" and "there's nothing to be embarrassed about".
Janet Street-Porter remarked: "Everyone on this show, all the women that are guests on the show or presenters all have someone in their lives who has [dementia] and yet some don't want to own up to it as if their worried their quality of life will be diminished."
Sue continued: "We went to an Age UK Christmas carol concert and there was a lot of people with dementia and Tony said, 'You know I've got to start talking about this because it's like I'm keeping a guilty secret. And, we go to lots of these events and they're going to think I'm ashamed if I don't come out.'"
Tony and Sue admitted they were both "relived" when the singer received his diagnosis.
"it doesn't stop me I just go ahead anyway," he added before revealing he has recently recorded two albums in Nashville.
The South Yorkshire singer star has released a new song featuring Sting and Chic's Nile Rodgers as part of a dementia campaign.
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* Loose Women airs on ITV on weekdays at 12.30pm.
