I studied 8 years for a diploma that was supposed to be done in 5, and I had done nothing with the extra time. I just wasn't in a good place to be done any faster.
However, it turns out to just not be a problem. Companies generally could not give a flying fuck about what I did at university, and as soon as I had been at one company, they only cared what I had done before in the industry.
Now of course, going for a masters is different, but I wouldn't worry too much about it, it probably matters less than you think it will. If you want to explain gaps, I'd just cite it as "personal reasons". If they ask - which is kinda not-okay - you can always say you had family matters that precluded you from focusing on your studies until now.