Emmerdale legend Charley Webb has bravely opened up about her mum’s battle with dementia.
The Debbie Dingle actress appeared on This Morning on Friday (June 9) to discuss her mother Helen’s deteriorating health.
She became choked as she chatted to Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary in the wake of Coronation Street icon Julie Goodyear’s diagnosis.
READ MORE: Emmerdale’s Charley Webb strips down to black swimsuit as she shows off her toned figure
Alzheimer’s Research UK ambassador Charley explained that her mum Helen was diagnosed eight years ago and the family has been through “hell” ever since.
She recalled: “There was no support, no help, it was shocking actually, and for me and my siblings it has been eight years of hell.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“She’s now gone into a home and it was the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make.”
Charley went on to share that Helen was hugely involved in her career and so she noticed when her memory became progressively worse.
The soap siren explained: “I got into working so young. Mum took over things like that and my sister’s make-up academy, and she was just forgetting things.
(Image: ITV)
“She forgot something huge for me financial, and I thought ‘This is quite serious’ then she was confused about something with her house, and I thought ‘this doesn’t make sense.’
“And people were like ‘you’re just being dramatic’ because I can be dramatic but I just knew.”
Charley, who shares three kids with her Emmerdale actor husband Matthew Wolfenden, went on: “I was pregnant with my middle one Bowie. That was traumatic, trying to get the diagnosis is actually a long process.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“It’s difficult, it’s hard, it was stressful. She had a big personality, she was much wilder than me.
“She would stay up until 4 in the morning with my friends, so seeing that decline was awful.”
She continued: “I think she was in denial. She was young, she was 64, she never wanted to go to the doctors for anything.
“They looked for everything else, they checked her thyroid, did tests because I don’t think they thought it was that.”
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Charley explained Helen’s appearance has dramatically due to her early onset dementia – which is when a person experiences symptoms before the age of 65.
“My mum is so fit and healthy,” she said.
“Very glamorous, hair was always perfect, make-up perfect. You lose them right before your eyes.
“That’s the hardest thing, because you grieve for the person they were.
“She’s like a little girl now and it’s taken me a long time to be able to talk about it, it’s such a personal and big thing but it feels like now is the right time.”
This Morning airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 10am
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
