Former ‘ABC News’ Anchor Bill Ritter’s Wife Saw His First Alzheimer’s Signs, ‘Was Nervous to Say Anything’

Kathleen Friery noticed it before anyone else did. Long before test results or a diagnosis, she was the one clocking the small slips in her husband, longtime ABC New York anchor Bill Ritter‘s memory.

Friery, 63, and Ritter, 76, are talking about the road that led to his early-stage Alzheimer’s diagnosis. According to an article People published on Wednesday, July 29, Friery held back at first, unsure how to vocalize what she was seeing. “I was nervous to say anything,” she said. “You don’t want to be the one to bring it up.”

Per the report, when she finally did, she found her husband of 17 years wasn’t caught off guard. “Bill didn’t dismiss my concerns,” she said. “He said, ‘Oh, yeah. I’m feeling it.'” From there, Friery kept a closer eye on him than ever, even after doctors initially chalked up his symptoms to mild cognitive impairment in early 2024.

“I actually started watching him like a hawk,” she told the outlet. “I wanted to make sure that on camera everything was cool — which it was, no one at work was noticing it. But Bill and I were.”

Ritter filled in what those early moments felt like from his side. “It was weird. In the beginning, it was that feeling of, ‘What’s their name? It’s on the tip of my tongue,'” he said, per the report.

He scaled back his workload, first stepping away from the station’s 11 p.m. and then 5 p.m. newscasts as his symptoms progressed. “I thought getting more sleep would solve everything,” he said.

It didn’t. By last summer, the couple sought further testing, including brain imaging and a spinal tap, before receiving the diagnosis late last year. In June, Ritter stepped down as anchor of the 6 p.m. broadcast.

Now, Friery says her focus isn’t on what’s been lost, but on how her husband has responded. “Since this all happened, I’ve never been more proud of him,” she said, per People. “It would be natural for us to focus on loss, and he’s not doing that at all. It’s just not his way.”

Ritter and Friery married in September 2008 and share a 17-year-old daughter, Ella. He also has two adult children, daughter Mia, 33, and son Owen, 31, with his ex-wife, Janny Scott.