Joe Wicks fears his mum or dad could develop dementia in later life after the illness tragically impacted his family through the loss of his grandmother.
The fitness coach became a household name during the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to his easy-to-follow exercise videos. Joe, 39, is a keen fitness fanatic and says exercise can help us look after our bodies, both physically and mentally.
Joe, who will be appearing on Dragons’ Den as a guest judge this week, has now joined up with Alzheimer’s UK to promote the charity’s Think Brain Health campaign. It aims to teach people that what is good for your heart – such as exercise – is also good for your brain.
It comes after his maternal grandmother, Carmella, was diagnosed with vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s at the age of 79 in 2012. The Body Coach says it was “really tough” watching his mum, Raquela, struggle with what was happening to her own mother.
Born in Naples, Carmella moved to England in her twenties. She was living in a care home during the pandemic when her condition began to worsen.
“It was really difficult just seeing how she lost her memory it was so quick and then she’d have moments where [my mum] would be brushing her hair, and she’d remember something,” Joe told The Telegraph.
Joe Wicks
(Image: Rob Browne, Reach)
Carmella died in 2022, aged 89. And Joe says a close friend of his is currently going through a similarly tough time with their own mother, sparking Joe’s concerns about Raquela and his father, Gary.
He added: “I do have a fear that my mum and dad might get Alzheimer’s or dementia. Because it’s like they’re alive, but you’re losing them. It’s like a long grieving process.”
Line of Duty star Vicky McClure started Our Dementia Choir after her grandmother died in 2015. She says more needs to be done by the Government to combat dementia, which is thought to affect one in every two of us, if nothing is done to slow it down.
Would Joe, who was given an MBE for his services to fitness and charity, consider joining forces with politicians to combat dementia? Possibly, he says, he would contemplate becoming health minister down the line, but also has doubts about whether the role would be too tough.
He shared: “My only fear is that you go down that path and nothing changes. And you might be disheartened.”
Joe will tonight be joining multimillionaire investors Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman on the Dragons’ Den panel. The series sees people pitching for investment from the panel of dragons.
Dragons’ Den airs on BBC One at 8pm.