Rita Tushingham recalled the moment she felt like "someone’s picked you up and thrown you against a wall" following her daughter's breast cancer diagnosis in 2005.
Tushingham found fame at the age of 19 for her role in the taboo-breaking 1961 film A Taste of Honey, which she starred in alongside Paul Danquah, and earned herself both a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award for her performance.
During one scene, the pair shared what was reportedly the first on-stage interracial kiss.
The esteemed actress, 80, who also featured in films such as The Knack ...and How to Get It and Doctor Zhivago, detailed the anguish she faced when Aisha, aged only 33, had stage three breast cancer.
Speaking on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, Rita said: "It was a shock. You feel like someone’s picked you up and thrown you against a wall.
"You can hide in a corner and not do anything about it or say ‘right this is it’.
"You have to, I hate the word, but you have to be in the moment. You have to accept what’s happening."
The actress became emotional when she reflected on the incident from more than 17 years ago and she lavished praise on her "most amazing" daughter after making a full recovery, and went on to give birth to a son.
"Aisha is the most amazing person and she just got on with it," Rita continued.
"She is so strong and spiritual and she helped me and at the same time, I had my other daughter who was quite frail and ill in Los Angeles, in hospital at the same time.
"But… I made myself at the end of every day, I brought myself into 'this is the situation' and I really slept well."
Rita added: "You just have to recognise what the situation is. You can’t hide from it."
During the show with Desert Island Discs host Lauren Laverne, she also recalled her audition for the A Taste of Honey role, which had advertised as an "unattractive, unknown actor" which she said was "something I could do".
*The full interview with Rita Tushingham on Desert Island Discs will air on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on Sunday at 11am.
