Emmerdale's Charley Webb breaks down in tears as she discusses mother's dementia diagnosis and admits she struggles to visit her

Charley Webb choked back tears as she opened up on her mother Helen's dementia battle - admitting the ordeal had been 'very isolating'.

The former Emmerdale star, 37, publicly revealed in 2023 that her mum had been diagnosed with 'early-onset' dementia at the age of just 64, ten years ago.

And she broke down as she detailed the devastating impact, admitting she has 'never felt so alone' as she did when they received the diagnosis. 

According to Dementia UK, dementia is a degeneration of the brain that causes a progressive decline in people's ability to think, reason, communicate and remember. Their personality, behaviour and mood can also be affected. 

Early-onset dementia is when a person develops symptoms early, between the age of 35 and 65.

Appearing on the Mail's The Life Of Bryony podcast, Charley - who played Debbie Dingle in the ITV show from 2002 to 2021 - explained why she had chosen to share Helen's dementia battle, after keeping it private for so long.

She explained she had been motivated to speak out in order to do more for Alzheimer’s Research UK, for which she is an ambassador, and also because she knew how isolating it could be.

She said: 'I felt selfish not talking about it because I knew how alone I'd felt, so I thought if I can just do a little bit more for the charity, I really want to do that.

'I don’t think I’ve ever felt so alone as when that diagnosis happened.'

While the actress also described how she'd felt conflicted about keeping it secret, as she knew her mother wouldn't want it public.

Charley explained: 'I think I chose not to speak about it for a long time, because my mum was a funny character, very glamorous. 

'And I can just hear her voice in the back of my head saying, "Don't you tell people that I've got that! I do not want people to know". That's just the way she was. 

'My mum was all about makeup and being glamorous and I just felt like I wanted to protect her privacy. Even though she wouldn't have known that it was being spoken about, I think in in the back of my mind, I was like she would hate this.'

She continued to host Bryony Gordon: 'To be honest, I still don’t think I’ve processed it. They say that you grieve when they’re here and you grieve when they’re gone'.

While she then became overcome with tears as she got honest about how she struggles to go visit her mum, who lives in a home with round-the-clock care.

'I think I have dealt with this situation in a bizarre way,' Charley said. 'I'm definitely a compartmentaliser, but I have to be honest, and I know this is controversial. But I really struggle to go see my mum without getting upset.'

Getting visibly emotional, her voice broke as she asked: 'Sorry, give me a second' and struggled to compose herself.

Still choked up, she tried to continue and said: 'It’s hard, it’s not the person that you love', before covering her face with her hands as she succumbed to tears.

Valiantly rallying herself, Charley went on: 'Sorry I didn't expect to get so emotional. But it's not the mum that you know or love.'

She then candidly explained how she felt 'selfish' because she didn't enjoy visits with her mother, instead seeing them as reminders of what she had lost.

'My sister is so much better than me, she finds it so uplifting when she sees her,' she said. 'And I feel selfish, because I'm literally like, "Oh God I've got to go see my mum".

'And that is a controversial thing to say and I'm sure people will be like you're awful, but I have to be honest, it's not something I enjoy. It's s**t.

'I really wish I could be that person that was like "I'm going to see my mum and it's so great she's still here". I really don't feel that, I do struggle with it.'

Charley said that while she anticipated some people would judge her for being honest about her struggles, she knew that others going through the same ordeal would understand.

'I think a lot of people find it harder than they let on. It's not an easy thing to watch,' she said.

The actress also revealed the 'most annoying question' that she gets following Helen's diagnosis, was when people asked how her mum was.

While she said she knew they were doing it out of kindness, she lamented that 'there is no answer' to give.

'You're not going to be able to say, "Oh she's doing really well," because she's not doing really well,' she explained. 

'It's an illness where they don't get better. So, it's like you have the same conversation on a loop.'

Charley first opened up on Helen's diagnosis in 2023, as she detailed how her family had been through 'hell' as they were forced to 'grieve for the person' her mother once was. 

The soap star appeared on This Morning, where she told hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary about getting the diagnosis.

Charley, who shares three sons with ex-husband Matthew Wolfenden, said her mum was once a huge part of her career so she was one of the first to notice the forgetfulness. 

'As I got into working so young, my mum took over and she started forgetting things. She forgot something huge for me financially', she said.

'She thought she was gonna lose her house, and I thought this doesn't make sense. People thought I was just being dramatic but I just knew in my gut that something wasn't right.

'Getting the diagnosis was a long process. It was very stressful. She had a big personality and was much wilder than me. She was amazing. Seeing that decline is just awful'.

She tearfully continued: 'I was pregnant with my middle [son] Bowie. That was traumatic, trying to get the diagnosis is actually a long process.

'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 went on to say that she now believes her mum 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. My mum is so fit and healthy. Very glamorous, hair was always perfect, make-up perfect.'

'You lose them right before your eyes,' Charley explained. 'That's the hardest thing, because you grieve for the person they were'.

She revealed: '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.

'One out of two of us will get dementia or care for someone with dementia, if we can do something about it now we should.'

She revealed that she wanted to talk about it so that others who were going through a similar situation don't feel alone. 

'You get the diagnosis and you're left to your own devices. And I worry about people who don't have family or siblings. We're really lucky. Support needs to get so much better.'

Describing her own family's experience, she said: 'There was no support, no help, it was shocking actually, and for me and my siblings it has been eight years of hell'.

'She's now gone into a home and it was the hardest decision we've ever had to make.'

To learn more about dementia, visit the Alzheimer’s Research UK website here.