Sort Your Life Out's Dilly Carter broke down in tears as recounting the strain of juggling her cancer diagnosis with caring for her bipolar mum during Monday's episode of Lorraine. 

The 44-year-old - who has been a decluttering expert on Stacey Solomon's BBC show since 2021 - appeared on the ITV show to chat to host Lorraine Kelly, 65, about putting her mum into a care home and the stigmas attached to it. 

The TV personality spoke about how she had to step up after her dad passed away in 2010, but things got difficult when she became ill herself. 

Dilly told Lorraine: 'When my dad died, the house got horrendous. I went to visit her and the house was in such a state. I remember coming back to my husband and said "She just cant live like this. We need to do something."

'It was a no-brainer, look at what she did for me. If I could return the favour and look after her, when she became ill, then that was my life long mission. 

'We were a young family. We'd just had a baby. She lived with us in our house for 7 years, until we built  build a granny annex at the bottom of the garden that she could live in, so we could keep an eye on her, and that I could care for her. 

'But still, my mum needed care and she had to have carers coming in four or five times a day. It was still quite tough. Then I became ill.'

Fighting back the tears Dilly bravely continued: 'I got diagnosed with cancer of my womb. I was really unwell. I just couldn't cope. 

'It was affecting my family and it was just too much. I just had to say to my mum it's really hard trying to look after you, and trying to look after myself. 

'So I think we're going to have to think about putting you in a care home. 

'Even though there is such guilt and such stigma about putting your parents into a care home, it can honestly be the best thing for them.

'It has been life changing for me and for my family.' 

She said previously: 'Making that decision was the hardest decision I think I've ever had to make. 

'You feel like you're letting them down, you feel like you're shoving them into this place. What it made me realise is "Oh my god, why didn't I do this 20 years ago?" 

'It has completely transformed our lives as a family and transformed hers.'

Talking about her family history, Dilly explained: 'I was adopted from an orphanage in Sri Lanka aged three.

'My parents couldn't have children and tried for years and that's why they decided to go back to Sri Lanka because that was where my dad was from. 

'My mum and dad had actually met in England.

'When mum had her first breakdown she was 11 years old and unfortunately her mental health declined and it got so bad that she was unfortunately then in and out of psychiatric care for the next 10/11 years. 

'She was sectioned 10 times throughout my life. It wasn't until later on in life that they realised she was bipolar.

'I saw my dad suffering because he didn't know what to do with me, he didn't know what to do with himself. 

'The house was in disarray, which is why I did what I do. I tied, I cleaned. I had to look after my dad. I was 11 years old. 

'In 2005, my dad started getting ill. Unfortunately he stopped working, and when he stopped working his minds topped working and he just declined. 

'The dementia kicked in, the Alzheimer's kicked in. 

'My mum couldn't care for him because she was unwell herself. 

'She had no choice but to put him into a care home. It was quite sad to see him like that.' 

Back in February Dilly opened up about the dark truth behind her love of tidying on the ITV show. 

Host Lorraine was keen to find where she found her interest in cleaning from, and the telly favourite revealed it was influenced by her childhood. 

Dilly said: 'Basically I grew up in a really chaotic household. 

'My mum and dad were constantly working, the house was at the bottom of their priority list.  

'And my mum had mental health issues from when I was 11 years old. So that's why the house got into real disarray and it got worse.

'From the time I was 11 to in my 20s, my mum's mental health really declined. She was bipolar, she was sectioned 10-15 times throughout my childhood. 

'My house was the thing that suffered. So my way of helping was to organise, try and clear up.' 

According to the NHS website, the main symptom of bipolar disorder is extreme changes to your mood.  

Dilly also spoke about her own health on the ITV show. 

The TV star was diagnosed with stage one cancer of the womb in October 2022.

She then returned to the much-loved show in September 2023 after her diagnosis.

The BBC One favourite shared with viewers how she is doing now earlier this year. 

Dilly said: 'Compartmentalising my feelings, the way I was, what I went through, I would think "right okay, well this is this part of my life, I now just have to deal with this. And, this is another part of my life… but for now all I need to do is just focus on getting better, getting through this moment and getting to the end."

'I knew I had a goal and I had a focus.

'I’m lucky that I am quite a positive person.

'I’m lucky that I saw the light at the end of the tunnel because a lot of people don’t. 

'I was lucky that I had a huge amount of support around me, because throughout my whole cancer journey I was working, I was filming and the episode which is about to come out now [Sort Your Life Out] was when I was going through treatment and I was really poorly.'

Despite being through some really tough times with her health, she has managed to see the positives in life.  

She added: 'It’s been an amazing journey, but a tough one, as anyone who is a cancer survivor realises. 

'You have this huge amount of survivors guilt where you think you’re surrounded by people in a hospital, that are really poorly and that don’t make it.

'So the fact that I am sat here today, on a sofa talking to you, doing what I love best, on a show that I love that is just life changing for so many people, is just unbelievable.'   

Sort Your Life Out, which has had four successful series, follows Stacey and a team of experts transform guests' cluttered homes. 

Stacey is joined by experts Robert Bent, Iwan Carrington and Sophie Hinchliffe. 

Lorraine airs weekdays from 9am on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.