Clare Crawley reunites with her Alzheimer’s stricken mother Lilia after months apart due to COVID-19

The Bachelorette’s Clare Crawley has finally reunited with her mother Lilia after being apart due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The 39-year-old reality star’s mother – who has Alzheimer’s and dementia – has been quarantined apart from her daughter in her Sacramento care center, and has been struggling in a wheelchair due to her weakened body. 

Getting emotional after savoring their 20 minutes on a visit Thursday, Crawley could not hold back her tears as she wrote, ‘This time is precious.’

Sharing a photo of her hand clasping her mother’s as they sat outside at the facility, Clare penned a lengthy caption. 

‘I’m so thankful to be able to see my mom in person now. I get so emotional because this time is precious and I know means everything to both of us, especially as her mind is slipping away and her body is getting weaker.’

‘I try and sing and laugh to add a little sunshine to her day, even if it’s only for the 20 minutes they allow. I love it. She has good days and bad, Just like we all do.’

She continued to show her vulnerability as she said, ‘Well today I couldn’t hide my hard day. A mother always knows. Without saying a word, she reached in her pocket and pulled out this tissue and just squeezed my hand.’

Clare had previously shared a photo of Lilia kissing her cheek on May 10 as she reminisced about their last visit before quarantine.  

‘This was the last time I got to hug my mom before quarantine,’ Crawley wrote. 

‘She had fallen and split her nose open + had two black eyes, and I think I slept a total of 2 hours because I was so worried about her.’

‘But you wouldn’t be able to tell any of that, because we were so happy just to be able to spend time together!’ Memories like this matter the most to me! Love heals,’ she shared. 

Clare had previously shared on an Instagram Q+A that fiance Dale Moss, 32, had gotten the seal of approval from Lilia. 

 When someone asked if Moss had met her mother, she responded:

‘He sure has and she can’t stop staring at him with the biggest smile! She loves him sooo much, and asks about him when he’s not there with me.’

The pair notoriously fell in love on the hit ABC show only episodes into the season, as Clare walked away an engaged woman and Tayshia Adams stepped in to find love with the remaining suitors. 

The show was set to begin filming last spring and was forced to stop production on account of COVID-19. 

Though she was apart from the show’s contenders, Clare was able to check in on them via social media for the first time in the show’s history, which seemed to fast-track her love for Dale upon returning to shoot the show. 

The contestants usually operate in a bubble with no access to phones or television, but due to the months long forced stopdown, she was able to get a glimpse of the men’s lives during the nationwide stay-at-home order. 

Though many were not buying Clare’s claims that she had not exchanged messages with Dale on Instagram during the stopdown, she maintained that they had never talked or texted, but fell for him as soon as she saw him in person after keeping tabs on his life on social media. 

In a recent podcast interview, Moss shared that he had been nominated to appear on the show before but only signed on once Crawley was announced as the Bachelorette. 

‘I turned it down over and over and over again. And I actually finally committed to it four days before everyone was supposed to leave for the show. And the only reason I committed to it was because Clare was announced as Bachelorette at that time.’