Mario Fenech endured Footy Show taunts despite the onset of early dementia

Rugby league legend Mario Fenech’s wife Rebecca has opened up about her husband’s battle with dementia and how hurt he was by remarks made on The Footy Show as his memory started to deteriorate.

Rugby league legend Mario Fenech would come home “pissed off” that The Footy Show was making him the butt of jokes while his memory was starting to deteriorate in front of the nation.

His wife Rebecca Fenech said the Channel 9 show regularly made fun of her husband, who was diagnosed with early onset dementia seven years ago, aged just 53.

“They took the mickey out of him where, really, he’s a very intelligent man – but that’s the way it rolled,” Mrs Fenech said of Nine’s rugby league variety program.

Mario Fenech now needs help to shave. Picture: 7NEWS Spotlight

“He wasn’t a boy’s boy because he didn’t gamble, he didn’t go and have a beer after the show. So I suppose it isolated him a little bit from those people.”

Mrs Fenech said her husband’s parents “certainly weren’t” comfortable with the way Fenech was portrayed and while he loved being on the show and around footy people, “he used to come home pissed off sometimes”.

Mario Fenech with his family - Joe, Rebecca, and Bonnie. Picture: 7NEWS Spotlight

Mrs Fenech said everyone was aware of her husband’s deteriorating health.

“I mean, there’s been whispers around for a long time.

They know, they saw his decline obviously in The Footy Show as well,” she said.

“It just hasn’t been talked about, it’s silent.”

Mario Fenech receiving treatment after a knock to the head. Picture. Library Nwn

Rebecca Fenech believes her husband’s early onset dementia is due to repeated concussions while playing rugby league.

Mrs Fenech has spoken publicly for the first time about her husband’s early onset dementia, a disease she believes was caused by the numerous concussions and head knocks he suffered during his stellar career.

The 60-year-old’s irreversible condition has now deteriorated to the point where he has virtually no memory left and it won’t be long before he needs full-time care.

In a confronting interview on Channel 7’s Spotlight, to be shown tonight, Ms Fenech speaks about the diagnosis she calls the “silent, lonely killer” and reveals how she and their children, Bonnie and Joe, are coping with the loss of the old Mario.

Mrs Fenech said she went public for all other sufferers and families “and for future generations of children who love rugby league”.

“Our family loves it and Mario, it’s running through his veins, but how can we protect them from these fatal long-term injuries?” she said.

Spotlight 7pm Sunday on 7.

Originally published as Mario Fenech endured Footy Show taunts despite the onset of early dementia