Alicia Quarles Tears Up Recalling Late Mom’s Support During Mental Breakdown: ‘She Never Wavered’ (Exclusive)

Alicia Quarles recalls how her late mother, Terry Linda Quarles, was there for her during the most difficult time of her life.

PEOPLE’s exclusive sneak peek at Friday’s episode Tamron HallThe 41-year-old Emmy-winning journalist recalled her mother’s support after she was arrested after live-streaming her severe anxiety attack in August 2022.

“I got arrested and I woke up in the emergency room chained to a hospital bed. I’m telling them I’m pregnant,” began Quarles, who revealed she was expecting twins the same day she announced her mental breakdown.

Quarles described how the first officer who followed her was surprised to still see her several hours later.

“They’re taking me for an ultrasound. I never got one,” she recalled. “Hours later, I’m in this room. So they transfer me to jail. I say, ‘Hey, I’m pregnant. Can I get something to eat?'”

Alicia Quarles Live Streamed Her Mental Health Breakdown — The Same Day She Found Out She Was Pregnant (Exclusive)

After waiting for hours for a bag of crisps, Quarles said she was transported to court without shoes or contact lenses, describing the treatment as “inhumane”.

“I’m in this holding cell and I’m getting out. I have very bad eyesight, but I could see my mom and I could see my aunt. And then everything became real,” she said. “Just think, ‘Did I embarrass my family? Did I mess up?’”

“It overwhelmed me, but my mother was by my side. She never, ever wavered. Ever. AND It is mom,” she continued through tears.

Alicia Quarles and her late mother Terry Linda Quarles.

Alicia L Quarles/Instagram

Journalist and GMA3 co-worker shared that she recently lost her mother in May, just four days before Mother’s Day.

“We were planning our first Mother’s Day together, we were so excited,” Hall, 52, said.

However, Quarles said she is “finding meaning” in the loss and is moving on Good morning America Colleague Robin Roberts’ mantra: “Send a message to your clutter.”

“I really turned my pain into triumph,” Quarles explained. “My mother lived long enough to meet my babies. She lived and was with me in the most difficult part of my life.”

‘GMA3’ Alicia Quarles Welcomes Twins: See Adorable First Photos

She added: “At a time when so many people weren’t celebrating my pregnancy, my mother is, my father is, my family is.”

“I talked to my mother the day before she died. Beautiful things,” the journalist recounted. “When she passed away, my father, sister and I were there and we kissed her and we saw her off, we prayed that she would go to the next life.”

“I miss my mom, but I’m calm because nothing was left unfinished between us,” she explained, repeating once more, “It is mom.”

After the sudden loss of her mother, who died of complications from a fall, Quarles opened up to PEOPLE in May about that tumultuous period early in her pregnancy.

Alicia Quarles and the twins.

Alicia L Quarles/Instagram

She revealed she found out she was 11 weeks pregnant on the same day she went live on Instagram to document her extreme anxiety attack, telling PEOPLE, “The day I found out I was pregnant it was just an IUD.”

However, after she found out a week later that she was expecting twins, “there was complete calm and everything seemed to make sense,” she said. “It was like, ‘Okay, I went through that to get to this.'”

Nine months later, Quarles exclusively revealed to PEOPLE that she gave birth to her now six-month-old fraternal twins, son Hudson and daughter Harlow, in February 2023.

“I truly believe my babies saved my life,” she told PEOPLE in May. “If I had continued at the pace I was going, I wouldn’t have been here long.”

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Tamron Hall airs weekdays (check local listings).

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Source: HIS Education