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I think that's an approach that will lead to you hating her later for never loving "the real you", and hating yourself for never having told her, and blaming her for that as well. As a mom myself, I'd like to believe that anyone less dense than teak would notice if their child was having serious emotional problems - and I'd feel like a failure if I found out my baby boy was having real problems and didn't feel like he could ask me for help.

Of course, there's also timing to be considered. Mentioning it as an aside during dinner is not really the best approach. Tell her you have something really serious you want to talk about, set up a time and place, and bring notes to help you along, because when you're emotionally distraught you're not going to be very clear and she'll probably have a lot of questions.