A Place in the Sun presenter in floods of tears over mum's diagnosis

25 October 2023 , 18:13

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A Place in the Sun presenter in floods of tears over mum's diagnosis

Alison Hammond was quick to comfort Jasmine Harman on Wednesday's episode of This Morning, after she welled up in tears over her mother's struggle with mental illness.

The A Place in the Sun presenter appeared on the ITV breakfast show alongside mum Vasoulla, who has had been diagnosed with hoarding disorder, to discuss how the condition had impacted their relationship.

Speaking candidly about her experience growing up, Jasmine admitted that she never wanted to invite guests over because she was "really embarrassed" by how much clutter was in their home. She continued to worry about others' perception of their house as an adult, especially after becoming a public figure as a host on A Place in the Sun in 2004.

Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary interviewed Jasmine Harman and her mother Vasoulla about hoarding on Wednesday's This Morning (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

"It was my biggest fear someone find out about how I'd grown up and the way that I'd lived at that time," she told Alison and co-host Dermot O'Leary.

Jasmine went on to share a memory of panicking after a date had asked if he could use her family home's bathroom after driving her home. Feeling "utterly mortified", she rushed inside the house to tidy up the bathroom before her unplanned visitor entered. "It was never spoken of again," she admitted.

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"I concentrate on having a loving relationship with my mum, and not about the hoarding," Jasmine said, becoming visibly emotional. "I'm so grateful to her. She's helped me become a much more compassionate person. We used to argue all the time. But now, we have a relationship that's not focused on the hoarding." At this point, Alison reaches over to offer Jasmine a tissue and some sweet words of reassurance.

When asked about how the hoarding started, Vasouella explained that it stemmed from bereavement. After losing her father and moving back and forth between England and Cyprus as a child, she found herself collecting trinkets and knickknacks. The compulsion to hoard increased as she got older, and was exacerbated by a number of challenging events.

"The trauma of loss is something a lot of people have as a the onset of their hoarding behaviour," she explained.

Vasouella also spoke about her participation in the 2011 BBC documentary, My Hoarder Mum and Me, which explored the impact of hoarding on both the sufferer and their loved ones. It also saw her part with some of her possessions and place the rest of it in storage, which she no longer believes is a good idea.

"It helped in the short-term because the house was empty but there was a lot of things in storage," Vasouella explained. "I don't recommend storage as a solution. What I do recommend is therapy, because you've really got to get your head straight first."

Emma Dooney