Speaking for the first time about his wife's terrifying blackouts, Bert Newton tells Lucie Morris-Marr that humour saw them through her latest turn.
Showbiz icon Bert Newton may be performing wizardry on stage each night – but his thoughts are with his beloved wife Patti who, last month, suffered a second terrifying episode of memory loss.
Speaking exclusively to Woman's Day backstage at the musical Wicked, in which he plays the Wizard of Oz, Bert revealed he was "terrified" his wife, Patti, 64, had suffered a stroke when she had her first memory loss episode three years ago. On that occasion, she had amnesia for 11 hours.
Then, last month, Patti attended the premiere of Wicked in Sydney. After she returned home to Melbourne, her daughter Lauren found her in a "bewildered state".
"This time she lost her memory for two hours but she is back to normal now," Bert says. "It was terrifying – you just don't know if it was a stroke because you don't know what's happening."
Patti has been diagnosed with transient global amnesia – a condition common in the elderly which usually passes after 24 hours – and is now under the care of a top Melbourne neurologist.
