Ayda Field was joined by her mum, Gwen, on the Loose Women panel to speak out about her health news.
The star, who is married to Robbie Williams, said her mum’s Parkinson’s diagnosis is “tough” and explained she had been noticing the symptoms over the past couple of years.
Speaking about how she’s copying, Ayda divulged: “It’s a very confusing time. There are such wonderful blessings in my life – I have this amazing baby, an amazing family and I loved X Factor – all these moments of joy, and then these sharp drop offs.
“I’d be awake lying in bed crying, Rob would be asleep.”
The former X Factor judge said she’s still “figuring out” how to help her mum cope with Parkinson’s.
She said: “There was this moment I was angry at my mum for being sicker [than someone else]. [I thought] ‘Why did you have to get the aggressive kind? Why are you on medication?’ it doesn’t even make sense.
“How can I be mad? And then you feel guilty for being angry about that.”
Ayda, 40, explained her mum was hospitalised with pneumonia two years ago when she noticed a “shift” change.
“It kind of got progressively worse,” she said.
Addressing the signs and symptoms, the US star explained: “I had actually seen her hands shake before, I thought she’d been tested for Parkinson’s, she thought she’d been tested for Parkinson’s, it turns out she’d been confused and she’s been tested for rheumatoid arthritis.
“I’d written Parkinson’s off as a reality. And then it was about two days before the Royal wedding [Princess Eugenie’s wedding], you know when you have that instinct… she came into the room and she was talking about what she was going to wear… I’d seen the hand [shaking] before, something in that moment just did not sit right with me.
“I called my doctor, I said I know she’s not your patient [but] she needs to see a neurologist. She was going to put it off until after we got back and we were going to do X Factor, she said, ‘I’ll do it in three months’.”
Her mum Gwen later joined the panel and said: “I’m really doing well. I think after I got the diagnosis and started getting treatment, I started being myself again. I’m at a point now where I’m very connected and animated. I wasn’t that person for so long.”
She added: “Get real about this stuff and it’s OK. It’s good to have the information and have the knowledge.”
Ayda also spoke to the Loose Women panelists about her youngest child, Coco, who was welcomed into the world via surrogacy in September last year.
The mother-of-three was shocked she hadn’t retuned to the ITV show since having the little one in their lives.
“We haven’t seen each other since I’ve had Coco!?” She exclaimed before adding: “Wow time goes fast, she’s 11-months-old!”
“She’s the best baby, she’s scrumptious,” she spilled about her third child.
“She’s got those thighs with like 30 rolls on each side,” she said. “She’s the easiest baby.”
Janet Street-Porter quizzed her on whether Robbie helps out with the child duties, to which she said: “No, no nappy changes, he does sing to Coco.”
Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV from 12.30pm.