Kimberly Williams-Paisley Reveals Mother's Battle With Dementia

Kimberly Williams-Paisley revealed in a very personal interview with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts that her mother, Linda Williams, has been suffering with dementia for the past five years.

At first Linda did not want them to share the information, but now that she is in a long-term facility with dedicated caretakers and things appeared to be better than hoped, Kimberly feels this is the right time to come forward. “I’m finally at a point—my mother's finally at a point where I feel like it’s OK to talk about it,” she said in the interview. “There was a long time . . . that she didn't want us to talk about it, and that was so much a part of the stress of what we were all going through, was that we had to hide it and cover up for her, and protect her pride, and I just felt like we were at a point where our story could help other people.”

Although now Kimberly finds ways to communicate with her mother through music and triggering old memories, there was a time when she was worried that Linda would never know her children with Brad Paisley, Huck (7 on February 22) and Jasper (4). “When I found out what her diagnosis was, I thought, ‘Wow, she’s just not going to know my kids.’ And what was so cool was seeing how she actually really did interact with my kids,” she said. “You know, both down on the floor being really goofy and silly. And my kids adored her . . . they played really well together.”

Although dealing with such a disease as dementia is traumatic and emotionally draining, it seems as if Kimberly has been able to see the good side to things and made some peace with her mother's diagnosis. I wish them all the best for the future.