EASTENDERS and Carry On great Dame Barbara Windsor has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Barbara, 80, has been taking medication to help manage the degenerative brain disease, but in recent weeks her symptoms of memory loss and confusion have grown steadily worse.
Actress Barbara Windsor, 80, pictured with her devoted husband Scott just days ago
Now her devoted husband Scott Mitchell has decided to go public with the news in an exclusive, unpaid interview with The Sun.
He says: “Firstly, I hope speaking out will help other families dealing with loved ones who have this cruel disease. Secondly, I want the public to know because they are naturally very drawn to Barbara and she loves talking to them.
“So rather than me living in fear she might get confused or upset, they’ll know that if her behaviour seems strange, it’s due to Alzheimer’s and accept it for what it is.”
Sitting in front of me now, Scott, 55, bites his lip, clearly struggling to talk publicly about the devastating diagnosis they were given on April 22, 2014, and have kept under wraps until now.
Thames Television
Barbara Windsor is a fan favourite for her incredible performances in the Carry On films
The best of Peggy Mitchell
Dan Charity - The Sun Devoted husband Scott revealed Barbara asked him whether the public knows she is not well
“When the doctor told us, she began crying then held it back, stretched her hand out to me and mouthed, ‘I’m so sorry . . .’
“I squeezed her hand back and said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be OK’.”
He stops talking as tears spill silently down his face — the pressure of dealing with such a cruel illness all too palpable.
“I can’t protect her any longer. I’m doing this interview — and I would like to make clear that I’m not being paid for it and it’s the only one I’ll be doing — because I know that rumours are circulating in showbusiness circles.
“And, since her 80th birthday last August, a definite continual confusion has set in, so it’s becoming a lot more difficult for us to hide.
Barbara Windsor, 80, arriving at BBC Radio 2 studios just a couple weeks ago
Alamy The actress made a name for herself in the Carry On films
“I don’t want it to come across that she’s sitting there unable to communicate, because she’s not.
“We’re still going out for walks or dinner with friends and we still laugh together a lot. She loves going out and it’s good for her — she comes alive. And of course, the public are naturally very drawn to her, which I don’t want to stop.
“But as soon as we leave the house, I live in constant terror that she’s going to say something, or suddenly have a panic attack, or get photographed when she’s not looking right.
“I didn’t want someone else to dictate how or when the diagnosis came out, so that’s why I’m speaking about it now.
Barbara's portrayal of feisty landlady Peggy Mitchell was a big hit in EastEnders
“I’m doing this because I want us to be able to go out and, if something isn’t quite right, it will be OK because people will now know that she has Alzheimer’s and will accept it for what it is.”
Barbara — or ‘Bar’ as Scott often calls her — knows he is giving this interview. But does she fully understand the implications of it?
“She often asks me, ‘Do the public know that I’m not well?’ And she asked me again this morning.
“I said they didn’t yet, but we were going to have to let them know because so many people are talking now. But if she forgets that she gave me her blessing, well, I’ll just have to deal with that,” he says matter-of-factly.
Alpha Press Dame Barbara Windsor at Buckingham Palace with husband Scott in 2016 after being made a Dame
“Unfortunately, I notice she feels a kind of shame about it. There’s a vulnerability there and I keep telling her, ‘Bar, no one will think you’re silly for having this’.
“I explain that if someone has cancer, no one looks at them and thinks ‘How ridiculous’. We sympathise and it’s the same with this.”
Shortly after the diagnosis, Scott confided in a small circle of trusted friends — myself among them — who socialise regularly with the couple and had started to notice her occasional repetitiveness and confusion.
But he protected her from the news going public because at first Barbara, with whom he recently celebrated 18 years of marriage, struggled to accept the diagnosis. “We walked out of the neurologist’s office and it was almost as if she chose to forget what we had just been told.
Rex Features Dame Barbara Windsor started acting when she was 12 before finding fame in nine Carry On films
“That’s Bar 100 per cent. And I understood because who would want to take that in? Sometimes, denial is easier, isn’t it?” he smiles sadly.
“It was important to her to keep going through life without people looking at her in any different way. And I respected her wishes on that.
“For it to have come out any earlier would have been detrimental to her wellbeing and her health.” Scott, however, absorbed the full implications immediately and asked to return alone to the office of renowned neurologist Dr Angus Kennedy.
“I remember my heart was pounding and I had this really empty feeling inside me. I just needed to clarify what was going to happen next.
BBC Barbara Windsor as EastEnders icon Peggy Mitchell with on-screen sons Phil and Grant
EastEnders: Barbara Windsor first episode as Peggy Mitchell
“I said to him, ‘I have this fear that one day she won’t know who she is or what she achieved. And maybe that she won’t know me’.
“I was terribly upset and I remember he said to me, ‘My God, you really love her, don’t you’?” The tears start to flow again. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I have kept this bottled up for so long that talking about it so openly feels like a release.”
Scott first noticed that something might be wrong in 2009 — just before Barbara, who doesn’t have Alzheimer’s in her family, left EastEnders for the first time.
Filming the scenes of the old Vic pub burning down, she was working long hours and constantly exhausted.
Handout Barbara played Queen Vic landlady Peggy and delivered the immortal line: 'Get out of my pub!'
“Barbara had always prided herself on her memory and would say if anyone wanted to know anything, they’d phone her. But she started to find it difficult to learn her lines.
“She also had a couple of freezes when working, which was unusual for her. But we didn’t think anything of it.”
By early 2012, she had started repeating certain sentences and stories, and a doctor friend recommended that Scott, a former actor who now manages other EastEnders stars, contact Dr Kennedy.
“From the start, I said to Bar, ‘I want you to have these tests because you’re getting a bit forgetful and we may as well just nip it in the bud’. She was fine about it.”
National treasure Barbara visiting a homeless charity that provides shelter to veterans
The tests were done at their home, a cosy mews house in central London.
There were two separate appointments, of around two hours each, during which Barbara completed word and number games and had to tell a story in detail, before returning to it later.
“In my mind, I truly hoped it would be nothing. Just a bit of old age, you know?” he says ruefully. “But if I’m honest, I had also noticed a slight change in Barbara’s personality. Rather than being her normal positive, bubbly self, it felt like a thin veil had been drawn across her that was more serious.
“At times, I’d see a slight sadness develop that just wasn’t her. I put it down to age, but I now believe it was the very start of this illness.”
Getty - Contributor Husband Scott said he thought something could be wrong during Barbara's 2009 return to EastEnders, when she struggled to learn her lines
At first, Dr Kennedy kept an eye on the symptoms and, over the next 18 months, ordered the memory tests, brain scan and, finally, the definitive lumbar puncture.
Following the devastating diagnosis, Scott was determined to try and keep Barbara’s life as normal as possible for as long as he feasibly could. It helped that, at the time, the Alzheimer’s was mild and, partly thanks to daily medication, Barbara was functioning well.
“Dr Kennedy said she could continue working and I was so relieved. She’s had some pretty traumatic ups and downs in her life and she always got through them by focusing on her work.
“She’s a mini warrior, and this was no exception. So if ever I tried to talk about the diagnosis, she’d get a little bit defensive and say, ‘I’m just a bit forgetful. It’s my age.’
Getty - Contributor Scott says he is speaking out about Barbara's Alzheimer's diagnosis as he did not want it to come out in any other way
For the next few months, life returned to normal, with Barbara returning briefly to EastEnders a couple more times without any memory issues. Scott said: “When she was doing her job, or out in public being
Barbara Windsor, it didn’t seem to affect her. But it was showing at home. By 2016, it was getting worse.
The repetitiveness was becoming more common and there was slight confusion in conversation, but nothing major.”
Gently broaching the matter of her memory loss, Scott suggested to Barbara that she should return to EastEnders one last time and they agreed it was a good idea to kill off her character Peggy Mitchell.
“Barbara contacted the Executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins to make the suggestion and, at first, he said, ‘I can’t kill an iconic character’.
Getty - Contributor He hopes talking about the heartbreaking diagnosis will help families in similar situations
“So I went to see him and, without giving the full situation, confided that she was really struggling to learn lines and wouldn’t ever be coming back again after this.
“I asked that she have an autocue on set, just as a safety net. But in the end, she just used it to refresh her memory between takes. If you saw the Peggy death scenes, you could see she wasn’t reading it.
“Ironically, I think it’s some of the best work she ever did. I was incredibly proud of her.”
In March 2016, Barbara, whose acting career has spanned nearly six decades, was awarded a Damehood for services to showbusiness and charity — a joyful day that Scott says she still remembers every second of.
Corbis - Getty Barbara married Scott when he was 28 in 2000 and they have been together ever since
Since leaving EastEnders, she has recently narrated a couple of shows for Radio Two — one about comedy duo Abbott and Costello that has yet to air — and continued with her tireless charity work for, among others, Age UK and the Royal British Legion.
The most recent was a visit to the Queen Victoria Seaman’s Mission in London’s East End, close to where she grew up.
“That was just last month and she was really good,” smiles Scott.
“But the confusion has started to set in much more over the past few weeks, so we have decided she should now retire from charity work as well as acting.”
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His plan now is to make sure that Barbara’s illness is managed as effectively and sensitively as possible — and that she’s allowed to enjoy the rest of her life freely and in peace. Scott will continue to work closely with Dr Kennedy and take advice.
“So many journalists have said that Barbara has always been a good sport. She’s been the subject of many scandalous stories, dusted herself off and got on with it. She accepted it was part of her job and theirs too.
“So I would like to hope that the press will now show her the same respect she’s shown them over the years. She deserves that.”
Moment Barbara Windsor's made a dame
SCOTT has not been paid for this interview. At his request The Sun has made a significant donation to The Alzheimer’s Society.
Anyone with concerns about the issues raised can call the National Dementia Helpline or 0300 222 1122 or visit alzheimers.org.uk for information and support.
The EastEnders and Carry On actor Dame Barbara Windsor has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, her husband has revealed.
Scott Mitchell said Windsor, 80, had kept the news secret since they were first told four years ago, but that her symptoms had grown worse in recent weeks.
In an interview with the Sun, Mitchell said he wanted to set the record straight because rumours had been circulating about her deteriorating health.
“Since her 80th birthday last August, a definite continual confusion has set in, so it’s becoming a lot more difficult for us to hide,” he said. “I’m doing this because I want us to be able to go out and, if something isn’t quite right, it will be OK because people will now know that she has Alzheimer’s and will accept it for what it is.”
Windsor, who is famous for her roles in nine Carry On films and as pub landlord Peggy Mitchell in BBC soap EastEnders, was given the diagnosis in 2014.
After shedding some tears, her first words were “I’m so sorry”, Mitchell said.
A small circle of friends who had begun to notice her occasional confusion had been told shortly after her diagnosis, he said, but he had stopped the news from going public because Windsor was struggling to come to terms with it.
Mitchell said he had first noticed symptoms of the condition in 2009, just before Windsor left EastEnders for the first time, when she began having difficulty learning her lines.
She underwent a series of mental agility tests, a brain scan and a lumbar puncture before the couple’s fears were confirmed. By 2016, her forgetfulness and confusion were getting worse, and it was agreed she would leave EastEnders for good, he said.
She has now retired from charity work as well as acting, he said.
Image copyright Shutterstock Image caption Dame Barbara Windsor with her husband Scott Mitchell pictured together in December 2017
The actress Dame Barbara Windsor has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, her husband has said.
Speaking to the Sun, Scott Mitchell, 55, said his 80-year-old wife had been given the news in April 2014.
He said the EastEnders star had been taking medication to manage her condition but that symptoms had worsened in recent weeks.
The veteran of film and TV was made an MBE in 2000 and a dame in 2015 for services to drama.
In the newspaper interview Mr Mitchell said: "Since her 80th birthday last August, a definite continual confusion has set in, so it's becoming a lot more difficult for us to hide.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Dame Barbara, pictured in April 2018, was diagnosed four years ago
Image caption Dame Barbara played Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders - a character who became known for her cry "Get outta my pub!"
"I'm doing this because I want us to be able to go out and, if something isn't quite right, it will be OK because people will now know that she has Alzheimer's and will accept it for what it is."
"I hope speaking out will help other families dealing with loved ones who have this cruel disease. Secondly, I want the public to know because they are naturally very drawn to Barbara and she loves talking to them," he added.
Mr Mitchell said his wife was aware that he was making her diagnosis public.
"She often asks me, 'Do the public know that I'm not well?' And she asked me again this morning," he said.
"I said they didn't yet, but we were going to have to let them know because so many people are talking now. But if she forgets that she gave me her blessing, well, I'll just have to deal with that."
Image copyright Shutterstock Image caption Dame Barbara received her honour at Buckingham Palace in 2016
Image copyright PA Image caption Happy times: The couple are pictured in 2000
Mr Mitchell said he noticed his wife found it difficult to learn her lines in 2009, just before she left EastEnders for the first time, but they didn't think anything of it.
By early 2012, she had started repeating certain sentences and stories, he said.
Following a series of mental agility tests and a brain scan, he said, she was diagnosed.
He recalls that on hearing the news, his wife mouthed the words "I'm so sorry" to her husband.
"I squeezed her hand back and said, 'Don't worry, we'll be OK'", he told the newspaper.
Image caption The actress appeared in sitcoms including One Foot in the Grave
Dame Barbara appeared in nine Carry On films and played the pub landlord Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders.
The actress first appeared on stage at the age of 13 in a pantomime and was soon performing in the West End musical Love From Judy.
In 1964 she worked on her first Carry On film - Carry on Spying.
She was also in sitcoms including Dad's Army and One Foot in the Grave.
In 2009 she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at The British Soap Awards.
Tim Parry, director at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "We are saddened to hear of Dame Barbara's diagnosis with Alzheimer's. It's to be congratulated that Scott is speaking out to encourage other affected individuals and families to do the same when it's right for them.
"It's important to bring the disease out into the open as a crucial step towards us tackling it. Alzheimer's is a physical disease, in the same way that cancer or heart disease are, and there shouldn't be stigma in being open about it."
He described Dame Barbara as a "much-loved figure on our screens and in public life", adding: "Our hearts go out to her and her family. We hope she is able to maintain and enjoy her quality of life for as long as possible."
What is Alzheimer's disease?
Image copyright SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Image caption Alzheimer's disease brain (left) compared to normal (right)
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia - a syndrome associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning.
There are currently around 850,000 people in the UK with dementia.
Symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include memory loss, confusion and problems with speech, but the disease can start years before patients display such symptoms.
None of the treatments currently available can stop the disease, however they can help to temporarily reduce the symptoms.
Sources: NHS, Alzheimer's Society
Have you or a member of your family been diagnosed with Alzheimer's? Have you chosen not to tell many people about the diagnosis? Share your experiences with us by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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Dame Barbara Windsor, the EastEnders and Carry On actress, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, her husband has revealed.
Scott Mitchell says his 80-year-old wife has kept the devastating news secret since they were first told in 2014 - but that her symptoms have grown worse in recent weeks.
In an emotional interview with the Sun, Mr Mitchell said he wanted to set the record straight amid rumours in showbusiness circles about her deteriorating health.
He said: "Since her 80th birthday last August, a definite continual confusion has set in, so it's becoming a lot more difficult for us to hide.
"I'm doing this because I want us to be able to go out and, if something isn't quite right, it will be OK because people will now know that she has Alzheimer's and will accept it for what it is."
