Ruth Langsford has spoken candidly about her growing fear of dementia after noticing “senior moments” that leave her “really frightened.”
The 65-year-old Loose Women host lost her father, Dennis, in 2012 due to complications from dementia, while her mother, Joan, now 94, has also been diagnosed with the same disease.
In a new interview, Ruth revealed that she has recently begun experiencing “complete and utter blanks,” moments where she forgets familiar names or details, sparking panic about her own future health. “It happens all the time,” she said. “If I ever have a senior moment and go, ‘What’s her name again?’ about someone I know quite well, it really frightens me. I’m 65 now—my dad was diagnosed at 72, but looking back, we think the signs began in his late 60s.”
She went on to admit that, with both parents affected, she often worries about what lies ahead. “Of course I worry,” Ruth confessed. “But I also think—what will be, will be.”
The presenter has previously spoken about the emotional toll of her father’s illness, recalling on Loose Women in 2017 how painful it was to watch her mother lose “the love of her life.” She tearfully said, “I was grieving for my dad, but my mum was losing her husband—the man she married and built a life with. When he went into care, she was utterly distraught.”
Ruth revealed that as her father’s dementia worsened, his memory faded so deeply that he no longer recognised her or her mother. “Sometimes he’d stare at my face as if thinking, ‘I know this girl,’ and I’d silently say, ‘It’s me.’ Eventually, he forgot Mum too, even though she visited every day.”
Reflecting on his passing, Ruth admitted, “When he died, there was a sense of relief—but then came guilt. Guilt that we didn’t recognise it sooner, that we didn’t visit enough, that we had to put him in care. Those feelings never really go away.”
