Anne-Marie Duffs Heartfelt Tribute to Late Brother

Anne-Marie Duff has detailed her final moments with her late brother Eddie, before he lost his 15-year battle with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, as she got candid about the hardships of caring for someone with dementia.

The Bad Sisters star, 55, revealed that her beloved sibling died earlier this year, aged 57, from brought on by his Alzheimer's.

Reflecting on the last moment they shared together before he passed in a new interview, Anne-Marie explained she'd known she was 'saying goodbye'.

She described how she'd been sat by his bedside while he was sleeping and when he , she told him: 'Eddie, say everything you want to tell me before you go, pal'.

'For half an hour he looked me dead in the eye and just talked - although, of course, it didn’t make sense,' she recalled to The Times.

'I feel extraordinarily blessed to have had such a profound moment with my sibling. I knew that I was saying goodbye.'

The actress said Eddie's symptoms began when he was just 40 years old, with her noticing that he was frequently turning up to work late or getting on the wrong bus, eventually losing his job at a polling company.

But Anne-Marie admitted she'd never suspected that he had young-onset dementia, where people develop the devastating condition before the age of 65.

She shared her sadness as she recalled how her brother was already so far into the illness when he got the diagnosis that he couldn't fully comprehend it, speaking as though he would eventually recover.

But she admitted she felt 'relieved in a way' to have an answer to what was wrong, saying: 'I could lean on something for the first time, because I’d kind of been dealing with it on my own. You go, "Oh, thank God, somebody knows how to handle this, because I haven’t a clue".'

Eddie had no job, no partner and no children to care for him when he received the devastating diagnosis, and first moved in with Anne-Marie before they found him state-funded supportive housing. 

While she admitted living with someone with dementia was 'exhausting, frightening and potentially dangerous for you both', she described Eddie as still being 'so joyful' and said they laughed together more than ever in that time, because they were spending so much more time together.

Recalling how touching it was to watch her parents revert back to caring for him as they would have done when he was a child, Anne-Marie said seeing those moments made her think 'That's love right there'.

But as Eddie's condition worsened, she explained how it became clear he needed to be moved to a more secure and specialist accommodation because he began wandering off on his own, which was very dangerous.

However, the TV star said the family found themselves in the 'midst of a nightmare' as many dementia-specific homes with round-the-clock care refuse to take patients under the age of 65.

Anne-Marie shared her anger as she recalled the local council dismissing Eddie as 'fine', despite him being fully incontinent and unable to feed or dress himself at that time.

'I don’t think it’s malevolent, but it’s convenient gaslighting because it is cheaper and easier to place the burden on the family or spouse,' she said. 'I felt like I was going mad a little bit during those months where I couldn’t get hold of anybody.'

While she branded the quality of overall dementia care over the past 10 years as 'a mudslide', describing the conditions of one home she visited as 'desperately sad' and 'one of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen in my life.'

The family eventually found accommodation for Eddie outside of London, but for costs far exceeding his statutory financial support.

And acknowledging her privilege in being able to afford the fees, Anne-Marie pointed out: 'I knew that I’d have to contribute a lot of money, and that’s fine because I’m Anne-Marie Duff off the telly. But they didn’t know that. What do people do?'

'Living with someone who has dementia is exhausting, frightening and can be dangerous for you both. And you’re just left alone,' she added.

Anne-Marie shared the devastating news of Eddie's death last month, sharing a throwback photo of the pair of them as children as she explained that she was taking part in the annual London Trek26 to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society.

'I am doing this in honour of my big brother Eddie who passed away earlier this year,' she wrote. 'He was diagnosed with very early onset dementia in his forties.'

In the moving tribute, she continued: 'For those who knew him, he was the life and soul of every party, funny, kind and an extraordinarily loyal friend. 

'He gave me any ounce of cool that I may have - forcing me to swap pop music for Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Joy Division, The Beatles.... I will miss his cheeky smile and all of those gorgeous giggles. Mostly the dancing.

'I would be so grateful if you felt able to support me through the linked justgiving page. Not just for Eddie, but all the people you love living with dementia.' 

She ended up raising £20,000 for her 26 mile trek around the capital, thanks to a number of generous donations, including from her famous pals Sharon Horgan, Christopher Eccleston, David Suchet, James Corden and Claire Foy.

Previously opening up on her brother's shock diagnosis, Anne-Marie explained that she had initially felt 'infuriated and afraid' when his symptoms began.

She recalled noticing he was struggling to cope, turning up to work late and then losing his job, to suddenly being unable to make a cup of tea, forgetting what he was doing halfway through making a sandwich and suffering panic attacks

But it never crossed her mind it could be dementia, with the Sex Education star admitting she couldn't understand 'why he couldn't keep it together' and questioned whether it was , drugs or a mental health issue.

She recalled thinking 'he was making a mess of his life', and confessed that while he was struggling, she also 'had to get on with' raising her son Brendan, now 14, who she welcomed with ex-husband James McAvoy in 2010.

In an interview with The Sunday Times last year, Anne Marie described how caring for Eddie compared to looking after a baby, saying: 'There are no choices, you just have to, as Seamus Heaney would say, keep it on the spirit level.'

While she shared her concern and empathy for full-time carers who put too much pressure on themselves, stressing: 'All the love in the world is not going to make you able to care for somebody with dementia.

'People feel they ought to be able to be a caregiver and that somehow, all of that will transcend reality.'

Before Eddie's sad death, Anne-Marie told BBC Woman's Hour how 'very, very difficult' it was to see his condition progressing, as 'you are watching somebody slowly vanish before your eyes.'

Speaking in December 2024, 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.'

For confidential advice, call Alzheimer's Society's Dementia Support Line on 0333 150 3456