The broadcaster shared her emotional struggle with her late mother’s deteriorating health before breaking down in tears as the cast of Loose Women remembered Paul O’Grady.

A year has raced by since Paul O’Grady drew his last breath at the age of 67 years old due to cardiac arrhythmia and Loose Women stars have decided to stroll down memory lane as they paid tribute to the comedian – and recalled their own experiences with grief.

Speaking to her co-stars and viewers, Charlene White remembered her immense struggle following the death of her late mother Dorrett, who passed away from bowel cancer at 47 years old, before breaking down in tears.

The broadcaster and mum-of-two explained that her pregnancy with her son Alfie was particularly harrowing as she faced motherhood while finding herself trying to cope without the person who could have supported her in her new chapter.

She first explained that, upon finding out she was pregnant, Charlene “was fine” but grief caught up with her unexpectedly.

Charlene White shared her experience with grief as her mother Dorrett passed away at 47 years old from bowel cancer ( 
Image:
ITV)

“I was fine about it, I took the test, I was completely fine with it. But there was a moment, when I started showing and I was in the bath”, she remembered, “I was looking at bump in my belly and it hit me that I was going to have to learn to be a mother when I was motherless.”

Charlene insisted that she had been accustomed to taking care of others as she helped her mother raise her brother and sister, but she had no experience taking care of a new-born.

“The one person that I needed to guide through this really massive moment in my life wasn’t there”, the 43-year-old continued, “that’s the one moment where I completely lost it and I just cried and cried.”

“I couldn’t stop because grief presents itself when you least expect it and when I gave birth to Alfie, it’s that realisation that your mum is the only person you’ll physically connect to.”

Charlene remembered other women who tried to fill the void left by Dorrett, but she was unable to accept their support and “pushed them away.”

“No one knows me like my mum so if I needed help, my mum would just know”, she insisted. “I need to know how to do this by myself and as hard as that it is, I have no choice.”

Charlene’s mother passed away when she was still a teenager ( 
Image:
ITV)
In another breath, Charlene admitted she’d felt jealous of those who welcomed their children with their mothers by their sides but as she did so, emotion overwhelmed her and she choked back a few tears before being comforted by her ITV co-stars.

The popular TV host was only a 16-year-old teenager when her mother was first diagnosed with bowel cancer, as she revealed on the set of Lorraine in 2023, and, in a devastating twist, an early blood test could have been life-changing.

“Part of the reason my mum didn’t go to that appointment was because she got caught up with parenting. If she went for that early blood test it could of saved her life”, she told Lorraine Kelly at the time.

This has since led to her stressing the importance of an early diagnosis as she urged people to “check before they flush.”