Sir Jackie Stewart opens up on wife Helen's dementia battle and moment she forgot who he was

Formula 1 legend has said his wife Helen is living in "a new " as her dementia continues to worsen. Lady Helen, 84, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2014 which inspired to found his Race Against Dementia charity.

It is through that initiative that which hopes to spot signs of the disease in people many years before it ever begins to have an effect.

In more than a decade since her diagnosis, however, Lady Helen's dementia has steadily progressed over time. And Sir Jackie, 85, has revealed that just a few weeks ago, for the first time, his wife of more than 60 years forgot who he was.

"Just the other day it was time for dinner, she's getting up and I'm sitting close by, and she says, 'Where's Jackie?' That's the first time that's happened and that's only a few weeks ago," he told the .

"A bad feeling came over me." He went on to say that his wife's mind is in "a new world" and that she is now no longer able to walk on her own as a result of her condition.

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Sir Jackie also spoke of how 'sundowning' - a common side-effect of the disease which sees the sufferer become more agitated later in the day as their brain becomes more tired - is affecting Lady Helen. He said: "I know that Helen doesn't mean it when she suddenly goes round and hits me, or the nurses.

"She can hit somebody quite often, she uses language that she's never ever said in her life and it comes like that [clicks his fingers] and I say, 'Darling, darling, don't say that'. She says 'Why?' And she'll give me a row for doing that. That's usually after 17:00."

Sir Jackie has the money and the connections to be able to provide care for his wife through the specialist nurses and neurosurgeons that they pay. He also created a fully-accessible home for Lady Helen in Switzerland which has no steps or obvious obstacles.

For many others, the only choice is care in a residential facility, which is an emotive topic for the F1 legend. He said: "I visit homes for people with dementia and I leave in tears, because people are completely lost."

Sir Jackie went on to say it is a "disaster" that one in three people will develop dementia at some point in their lives. As for his own lifetime, the Scot would dearly love to see a cure for the disease discovered while he is still around to see it happen.

He added: "When you have a problem in [clicks his fingers] it's fixed... they're also changing [] all the time, because they have enthusiasm and they see the results. I want this to happen just as much as I wanted to be world champion - it's terribly important."