Anne-Marie Duff opens up about her brother Eddie’s shock young-onset dementia diagnosis in his 40s – as she emotionally recalls how he couldn’t comprehend that he wouldn’t recover

Anne-Marie Duff has opened up about her brother Eddie’s shock diagnosis of young-onset dementia. 

The Shameless star’s sibling, now 56, was diagnosed with the incurable condition nine years ago while in his 40s – although she believes symptoms began as far back as 14 years ago.

Anne-Marie told The Sunday Times that she had noticed Eddie struggling to cope – turning up to work late or getting on the wrong bus, and eventually he lost his job as a researcher. 

She couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t ‘get it together’, and questioned whether it was alcohol, drugs or if he needed psychiatric help. 

But she never thought it would be that he had young-onset dementia, where people develop the devastating condition before the age of 65.

Anne-Marie shared her sadness as she recalled how Eddie struggled to accept or comprehend his incurable diagnosis at the time and spoke as though he would eventually recover. 

‘It was sad, because he couldn’t accept it and he couldn’t fully comprehend it, it’s quite aggressive when it’s very early onset,’ Anne-Marie said.

Eddie had no job, no partner and no children to care for him when he received the devastating diagnosis nine years ago – so he was moved into state-funded supportive housing.

However Anne-Marie said that Eddie’s condition has now progressed and he, now 56, needs hard-to-come-by specialist accommodation with round-the-clock care.

The actress said her brother needs to be in secure accommodation because he ‘wanders off’. She has power of attorney over him. 

But despite his worsening condition, Anne-Marie and her family still find moments of joy and manage to laugh together. 

‘You will get precious memories, even though the memories are cobwebs,’ she said. 

She also shared that it is touching to watch her parents revert back to caring for him as they would have done when he was a child, as she added: ‘Just watching them still parent and shaving him, things like that are so beautiful.’

Anne-Marie opened up about Eddie’s condition on BBC Woman’s Hour back in December.

She told BBC’s Nuala McGovern: ‘We’re at a point now where he’s going to need much more care, so we’re applying for that, so we’re going through that difficult process. And my heart goes out to anyone who’s going through just the admin and the logistics of all of that. 

‘I’d say he’s been living with it for about 14 years and he’s only a couple years older than me so that tells you how young he was, and he had his diagnosis about eight or nine years ago. 

‘So yeah it’s very, very difficult because you are watching somebody slowly vanish before your eyes.’

She continued: ‘But the love doesn’t vanish and I’d say that is one of the gifts of all of it, is that the love is so present in the room. There’s an unspoken version of your relationship that exists in another… it’s almost like a completely other element. It’s so beautiful. 

‘He doesn’t know who I am but he knows that I love him which is very interesting… but I know the effect that it has on a family.’

Going on to praise charitable organisation, Anne-Marie said: ‘I mean the Alzheimer’s Society and all those organisations are phenomenal.

‘And again I always bang my drum and say if you’re going through anything, if you’re a carer or even someone who’s living with Alzheimer’s, please call them with any questions or worries or even just to talk. They are incredible. 

‘We all have someone in our lives, don’t we, who’s living with some version of dementia.’