Clare Crawley is navigating an unmeasurable loss.
The Bachelorette alum shared that her mother, Lilia, has died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
“Reading through all your messages has truly helped fill my heavy heart by the way,” Clare, 43, wrote on her Instagram Stories Feb. 6. “So many of you have been here along the way with us. And as prepared as I have been knowing we were on borrowed time with my mama’s dementia, my heart still stings like hell from losing her. Nothing can prepare you.”
The 43-year-old is also leaning on support from her loved ones. In her post, Clare included a photo of her and husband Ryan Dawkins‘ daughter Rowen Lily Dawkins, 12 months, writing, “She keeps me going right now.”
Clare, who had referred to her mom as her “forever guardian angel,” one day before announcing the devastating loss, had previously indicated that her mother’s health had taken a turn for the worse.
While reflecting on her and Ryan’s wedding milestone, she detailed the bond her mom shared with her late father James.
“As our second wedding anniversary came and went yesterday, it showed me what a true blessing it is to be married to @ryandawkins,” she wrote on Instagram Feb. 2. “We had plans to get away together, but instead he has been by my side night and day while we guide my mother to be reunited with the love of HER life in her last moments.”
She added, “He has been my strength in my weakest moment. This is what love truly is.”
When Clare returned to the Bachelor franchise in 2020 as the Bachelorette, years after vying for Juan Pablo Galavis‘ final rose, she shared insight into her mother’s health battle and how difficult it was navigating time together amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She lives in a care facility because of her Alzheimer’s and dementia,” she said on the show. “I’m sure a lot of people are experiencing this as well, but it’s really hard for me to not be able to see her, to not be able to hug her. It’s hard.”
In the years since, she’s reflected on the impact of Lilia’s health battle had had on their family.
“Sometimes it’s too hard to put it into words, the gravity of the hole that Alzheimer’s and dementia has left us with,” she wrote on Instagram on Mother’s Day 2021. “Names may not be remembered, and memories fade away, but one thing it will NEVER take away is the love between a mother and a daughter.”
