EastEnders and Carry On star was diagnosed four years ago and symptoms are getting worse
One of Britain’s favourite television personalities, Dame Barbara Windsor, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, her husband has revealed.
Scott Mitchell said Windsor, 80, known for her prominent roles in EastEnders and the Carry On films, had kept the news secret since they were first told four years ago, but 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 his wife’s 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 the pub landlord Peggy Mitchell in 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 were told shortly after her diagnosis, but Mitchell said he had prevented 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.
Tim Parry, the director of Alzheimer’s Research UK, praised the decision to go public. “Alzheimer’s is the most common disease behind dementia, accounting for around two-thirds of cases of the condition in older people,” he said.
Ross Kemp, who played Windsor’s on-screen son Grant in EastEnders, tweeted: “Very proud of Scott and Barbara for speaking openly about Barbara’s diagnosis. I hope by talking openly it will make it easier for others to talk about this dreadful disease. I love both Barbara and Scott very much.”
Others also wrote messages of support. The TV presenter Gaby Roslin said: “My beautiful dear friend Dame Barbara Windsor is an amazing woman and I will love her and wonderful Scott for ever. We’ve been friends for so many years and they are strong and brave together.”
EASTENDERS and Carry On legend 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
Richard Arnold pays tribute to friend Barbara Windsor on Good Morning Britain after she is diagnosed with dementia
“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.
Shane Richie has led a host of friends and former colleagues in wishing Barbara Windsor well after the actress revealed her Alzheimer’s diagnosis on Wednesday.
In an interview with The Sun, her husband Scott Mitchell explained how the 80-year-old EastEnders and Carry On star was diagnosed in April 2014.
Reacting to the announcement, Shane, 54, who worked with Barbara on BBC soap EastEnders, used one of her screen character Peggy Mitchell's famous lines, telling the same publication: 'This forgetfulness palaver can jog on.'
Speaking out: Shane Richie has led a host of friends and former colleagues in wishing Barbara Windsor well after the actress revealed her Alzheimer’s diagnosis on Wednesday
Pam St. Clement, who played Pat Butcher in the soap, said that she has known her former co-star has Alzheimer's since the diagnosis around four years ago.
St. Clement told ITV's Loose Women, of the reveal of Dame Barbara's health on Thursday: 'It came as a shock - but a welcome one.'
She said she thinks Dame Barbara and her husband Scott have "done exactly the right thing".
This forgetfulness can jog on: Reacting to the announcement, Shane, 54, who worked with Barbara on BBC soap EastEnders, used one of her screen character Peggy Mitchell's famous lines
'I think this needed to be said, it needed to be out in the open,' she added.
St. Clement praised Mitchell, saying: 'He's absolutely wonderful, I've got so much time for Scott, I would cross the ocean for Scott, he is wonderful. And I'm so pleased for her that she has him.'
Line Of Duty star Daniel Mays, who appeared in EastEnders in 2000, wrote on Twitter: 'Sending my love and deepest wishes to Barbara Windsor.
Announcement: In an interview with the Sun, her husband Scott Mitchell explained how the 80-year-old EastEnders and Carry On star was diagnosed in April 2014
'She welcomed me with open arms on my first gig @bbceastenders. I'll never forget her warmth and generosity. It meant the world to me. A class act £Legend.'
Tim Parry, Alzheimer's Research UK director, has praised the decision to go public with the devastating news, something he said they have been left "saddened" by.
'Alzheimer's is the most common disease behind dementia, accounting for around two-thirds of cases of the condition in older people,' he said.
Well informed: Pam St. Clement, who played Pat Butcher in the soap, said that she has known her former co-star has Alzheimer's since the diagnosis around four years ago
'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.
'Dame Barbara is a much-loved figure on our screens and in public life, and our hearts go out to her and her family.
Stunned: St. Clement told ITV's Loose Women of the reveal of Dame Barbara's health on Thursday, 'It came as a shock - but a welcome one'
'We hope she is able to maintain and enjoy her quality of life for as long as possible.'
Parry said there are more than 850,000 people in the UK living with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
He said research can ensure that better diagnosis, prevention and treatments are developed, which will "end the fear, harm and heartbreak of dementia".
Television presenter Lorraine Kelly extended her sympathy, tweeting: 'Such sad news about Barbara Windsor - a funny, kind, generous, big hearted woman.
Memories: Line Of Duty star Daniel Mays, who appeared in EastEnders in 2000, wrote on Twitter: 'Sending my love and deepest wishes to Barbara Windsor
'Alzheimer's is a very cruel disease. I hope she knows how much she is loved. Thoughts with her husband Scott.'
Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan was among the others sending messages to Dame Barbara.
He tweeted: 'Sending my love & support to the fabulous Dame Barbara Windsor, one of my favourite people.
'Alzheimer's is a horrible thing. She & Scott going public about it like this is a typically gutsy decision by one of the gutsiest ladies I know. We're all rooting for you, Babs!'
Best wishes: Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan was among the others sending messages to Dame Barbara
Radio broadcaster Tony Blackburn wrote: 'So sorry to hear the news about Barbara Windsor this morning. She's a lovely lady. Lots of love.'
Breakfast TV presenter Eamonn Holmes wrote on Twitter: 'Love this Woman! Ruth and I wish the £NationalTreasure that is Dame Barbara Windsor the very best after her Alzheimer's diagnosis.'
'My beautiful dear friend Dame Barbara Windsor is an amazing woman and I will love her and wonderful Scott for ever,' TV presenter Gaby Roslin wrote.
'We've been friends for so many years and they are strong and brave together. Sending so much love and thanks for all you do @alzheimerssoc.'
Actress Vicki Michelle said she was "so sorry to hear the news" about Dame Barbara, who she called a "strong, positive woman" and "a real survivor".
Boxer Frank Bruno said that he and Dame Barbara "go back many years", and had "many great memories and laughs" with her.
And Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson paid tribute to "national treasure" Dame Barbara, sending his best wishes to her and husband Scott.
Dame Barbara Windsor is one of those rare stars who cut across the generational divide.
To some she will always be the ditsy, buxom blonde in the Carry On films. To others, she’ll remain the bottle-blonde Cockney sparrow landlady of the Queen Vic in EastEnders.
Her character, Peggy Mitchell was best known for her catchphrase: ‘Get out of my pub!’ When she’s out and about off-screen, she is constantly approached by people who want to talk to her.
Actress Barbara Windsor, 80, pictured with her devoted husband Scott Mitchell, 55, last month
There are those who know her and those who only think they know her. Having a personality that’s every bit as ebullient as her on-screen characters, Barbara has always, until recently, been happy to chat to anyone who approaches her as though they’re her oldest friend. Until recently.
These days, going out into the wider world has become a growing nightmare for her. She’s found it frightening and bewildering. And people, inevitably, had started to ask questions about her wellbeing.
That is why her husband Scott Mitchell, 55, took the difficult decision to reveal what only her closest friends and family have known since 2014: Barbara has Alzheimer’s.
The news that she has this cruel, progressive illness has come as a shock to her many fans. For though she is 80 now, she has always exuded a bubbly youthfulness.
One of the few people who have been aware of her fight is Paul Bennett, a close friend for more than 30 years. ‘I spoke to Scott last week and he said she had gone downhill rapidly over the past couple of weeks,’ he said. ‘I talked to Barbara as well and she just said: “I’m not so well now.” ’
Mr Bennett says Barbara was deeply upset by the death of entertainer Dale Winton, aged 62, last month. The pair had known each other for years and were very close. ‘I think she took that quite badly,’ he says. ‘Since the diagnosis, there have been up days and down days, but I think there are more down days now than up days.
‘But she still goes out. Two weeks ago she went to see the Tina Turner musical.’ Scott says: ‘I want the public to know this, 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.’ Ben Douglas, a PR who also runs a theatre company, ran into Barbara a year or so at a West End show and was struck by her altered behaviour.
‘She’s a lovely lady, one of those people who always has time for fans. I was having a chat with her in the foyer on this occasion when this chap came up who obviously knew her and started chatting away.
Barbara plays her character, Peggy Mitchell (right) best known for her catchphrase: ‘Get out of my pub!’ in EastEnders. She is pictured left with her husband Scott Mitchell
‘Normally Barbara would chat away happily back but she recoiled, she seemed alarmed, she looked at him as though she didn’t know him from Adam, and she grabbed hold of my arm and turned her back on him and said: “Let’s go over there,” and pointed to a corner.
‘She seemed confused. I thought maybe she’d had one tipple too many. But now it all makes sense.’ Barbara first noticed something was wrong in 2009 when she began having difficulty memorising her lines in EastEnders, which she joined in 1994.
A true professional who made her stage debut aged just 13, she had always prided herself on learning her lines on time and being able to pull off a scene in one or two takes.
Paul Bennett adds: ‘She would get annoyed if one of the younger members of the cast weren’t prepared.
‘Then here was Barbara having trouble with her lines. She told me she was leaving EastEnders because it was getting more and more difficult.’
She admitted in an interview in 2012 that she was finding it frustrating. ‘You hit an age when you have to study that bit harder,’ she said. She also revealed that cooking had become a problem.
Knowing what we know now, the signs were there when she described how Scott had banned her from the kitchen.
‘I used to cook but he says I have got a little bit scatty, so I understand that. That is a bit of old age I have got, scattiness. I just forget things.’
And last night the devoted husband told The Sun she even forgets they are married.
'She suddenly has no recollection of our history,' he said. 'She'll look at her wedding ring and say, "Are we married?" But that's the thing about this cruel disease, isn't it?
‘She's not frightened of me, so I'm thankful for that. Over the last couple of days, the conversation has turned to, "I just think it's wonderful that you come here to look after me" - and she keeps thanking me.
'I say: "Barbara I'm not here to look after you, I'm here because I love you".'
To many, Barbara was known as the ditsy, buxom blonde in the Carry On films (pictured with Jim Dale in Carry On Doctor in 1969)
But by now she had already received the Alzheimer’s diagnosis — which she’d kept from all but her very close friends and family.
‘At first she and Scott thought her forgetfulness was part of getting older,’ says Mr Bennett. ‘But then they began to worry it was more than that and Barbara had some tests done. Scott phoned me after they had seen the consultant. It was important to the family to keep it a secret.
‘Because I used to see her a lot I didn’t notice the change so much. But she started calling me sweetheart, instead of by my name. I don’t know if she just couldn’t remember it.’
Another friend, actor and presenter, Christopher Biggins, who has known Barbara for 40 years, says: ‘Scott has done exactly the right thing in going public.
‘Barbara has her good days and bad days. Sometimes it is not as good. Scott is so wonderful and he is there 24 hours a day.
‘Barbara is incredible. Now she has come out of the closet, so to speak, hopefully we might be able to find things to help her.’
Last May, the BBC screened a one-off drama, Babs, about her life. There was, says Paul Bennett, a fragility to her then that he’d never seen before. At a special screening of the film, Paul says that while she was as charming as ever, she also appeared nervous.
‘She used to be full of confidence but she seemed more nervous. She’d lost a lot of weight, too.’
Dame Barbara’s life off-screen has been dramatic and eventful. She had a troubled relationship with her father, John Deeks, an East End charmer with a fondness for drink, whose marriage to her mother ended in the divorce courts, where the then 16-year-old Barbara had to give evidence.
She had to admit to the court that her father, a costermonger, sometimes lost his temper. When the case ended, her father swept past her without a word. She never recovered from his rejection. ‘It haunted me for so long because I was such a Daddy’s girl,’ she said in an interview last year.
‘It had a huge impact on me and started a relationship pattern of always trying to please men.’ After the divorce, Barbara lived with her mother, a dressmaker, whom she believes had never wanted a child.
Her mother’s lack of maternal feelings was to have a profound effect on Barbara in adulthood and she went on to have five abortions — something she was always open about, and deeply regretted.
She once said: ‘My mother never told me anything about the facts of life. I’d make a mistake then go straight on and do it again.
‘I was so naive. I’m from the generation where you kept your feelings to yourself. But I went through a lot of mental stress. I thought a lot about God and what he would think of me.’ She had her first termination aged 20 while in a relationship with her first serious boyfriend, a singer called Cliff Lawrence.
Four more followed, the last aged 42, during her marriage to Ronnie Knight, a small-time crook whom she married in 1964 after they were introduced by the notorious East End gangsters, the Kray twins.
That marriage ended in divorce in 1985 and the following year she married Stephen Hollings, a chef whom she divorced in 1995. Then she met Scott. She was 55 to his 30. The age gap attracted comment and there were suspicions he was a gold-digger.
‘Little did they know that after the breakdown of Barbara’s second marriage, she was £1 million in debt and we were talking about her coming to live in my two-bed flat,’ Scott said recently.
They married in 2000 and remain devoted. ‘She relies on Scott totally,’ adds Mr Bennett. ‘He has been her rock.’
One of the many showbusinees personalities who posted tweets yesterday in support of Dame Barbara was daytime TV star Lorraine Kelly who said: ‘I hope she knows how much she is loved.’ A sentiment that will be shared by the rest of the nation.
