Bert Newton hospitalised with serious illness

Television icon Bert Newton has been in hospital battling pneumonia, but is now on the mend.

Entertainment reporter Peter Ford told The Morning Show on Channel 7 that Newton was in hospital last week, and showed a photograph of the star in a hospital bed, surrounded by his grandchildren.

“He is on the mend and he is out of hospital but there’s still ongoing testing to be done, recovery time to come, obviously,” Ford said.  “He’s 78 years old and pneumonia is a very serious thing to have.”

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The reporter said that Newton’s wife Patti had been by the performer’s bedside “pretty much the entire time he was in hospital.”

Ford also made a point of rubbishing recent tabloid-style coverage of the couple’s marriage, saying that he didn’t know where the rumours about a split came from.

New Idea magazine, meanwhile, reported today that the high-profile pair were “devastated” by the breakdown of their son Matthew Newton’s engagement.

Do you admire Bert and Patti Newton?