Miriam Margolyes has shared her “deep shame” at having physically struck her mother while caring for her.
The Bafta-winning actor is known for her candour and brutal honesty, and last year released an autobiography in which she detailed, among other things, her close bond with her mum, Ruth.
However, in a new interview with the BBC, Miriam admitted there was a moment between herself and her mother that she now regrets not including in the book.
“I didn’t mention something that I should have mentioned,” she explained during an Imagine... special. “And that was [the fact] that I hit my mother when she was paralysed.
“Anybody who’s been a carer will know how frustrating and difficult it is, and I let that happen. And I’m deeply ashamed of it.”
Fighting back tears, Miriam continued: “The thing that really gets to me is that my mother forgave me. I hit her, when she was paralysed. And she forgave me.”
Describing her mother in her autobiography My Thoughts Exactly, Miriam wrote she was “the rock in my life”.
“Without a doubt, the most important person in my life was my mother. Perhaps she still is,” Miriam said.
“She died in 1974 when I was thirty-three, but has never left my side. She bound me to her, quite deliberately, with emotional hoops of steel.”
Miriam echoed these comments in her Imagine... interview with Alan Yentob, referring to herself as a “mummy’s girl” to this day.
“She never let me go,” Miriam added.
Imagine... Miriam Margolyes: Up For Grabs is available to watch in full on BBC iPlayer.