Ruth Langsford, 65, says ‘senior moments’ leave her feeling frightened

Ruth Langsford has admitted how suffering ‘senior moments’ leave her ‘really frightened’ over the future of her health. 

The Loose Women host, 65, lost her father Dennis in 2012 from complications from dementia, with her mother, Joan, 94, also being diagnosed with the disease. 

Speaking in an interview on Saturday, Ruth shared her fears after suffering ‘complete and utter blanks’ which leave her scared. 

The risk of developing Alzheimer’s is heavily influenced by genetics, which may account for up to 80 percent of a person’s likelihood of getting the disease. 

She told The Mirror: ‘All the time, literally all the time, if I ever have a senior moment where I go, ‘what’s her name again?’, somebody that I know quite well, and I have a complete and utter blank, it really frightens me.

‘I’m 65 now, my dad was officially diagnosed when he was 72. But looking back on it, we think he was displaying signs, we just didn’t know what they were – but he was in his late 60s and I’m 65.’ 

Ruth continued: ‘Of course I worry about it with both parents having had dementia, but I just think, what will be will be.’ 

Discussing her dad’s death back in 2017 on Loose Women, she confessed the hardest part was watching her elderly mother lose ‘the love of her life’.

She said at the time: ‘I was grieving and losing my dad but my mum was losing the love of her life, the man she married and had children with.

‘They had years and years of memories. You don’t often hear people talking about that side of it.

‘When my dad went into care, my mum was so distraught… I’m sorry,’ she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

Ruth, herself a mother-of-one, continued: ‘You do hope, but you know they probably won’t get better.

‘I’m sorry, sometimes I just can’t talk about it. It’s thinking about my mum, that side of it that gets to me.’

Ruth has previously spoken to the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine about how, over time, dementia ravaged Dennis’ memory to the point where he couldn’t recognise his loved ones. 

She explained: ‘Sometimes he’d stare deeply at my face, as though thinking, “I know this girl,”‘ she said. ‘I’d be silently saying, “It’s me, it’s me.” Eventually he forgot Mum too, despite her visiting every day.’

‘Some people deteriorate quickly, but Dad’s decline was slow, so Mum looked after him for ten years as his primary carer before it got too much for her.’

Speaking about his death, Ruth recalled: ‘Eventually when he died it was a relief. But again, you feel guilty thinking like that.

‘I still feel guilt at having put him in the care home; that I didn’t visit him enough; that we didn’t realise what was happening early enough.’

For confidential advice, information and support, call Alzheimer’s Society’s National Dementia Helpline on 0300 222 11 22. 

The service is open Monday to Friday and at weekends, with trained advisers who understand the needs of people affected by dementia. You can also email enquiries to helpline@alzheimers.org.uk