British movie star, 80, faces a serious health crisis, struggles to recognize her husband
Barbara Windsor, best known for her roles in the Carry On films and in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, has been out of the spotlight for a long time.
Since the 80-year-old woman was one of the most beloved actresses in the previous century, people started to ask questions about her, which led Scott Mitchell, her husband, to reveal the truth about her: she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2014.
Daily Mail reported that her fans got very surprised with the news because, even though Windsor is not that young, she has always had a youthful personality.
Apart from her 55-year-old husband and the rest of her family, Paul Bennett, Windsor close friend, also knew about her condition. Bennett confessed she went ‘downhill’ quickly over the past couple of weeks.
He added that since the diagnose, she has had good days and bad days, but that there have been more bad days lately. Bennett revealed that she still goes out from time to time, though.
One of her most recent outings was to see the Tina Turner musical a couple of weeks ago. The same source pointed out that Windsor started noticing that things were not okay with her memory in 2009, when she couldn’t memorize her lines in EastEnders.
In an interview Mitchell had with The Sun, he revealed that she has no memories of their love story. Windsor would look at her wedding ring and ask Mitchell if they were married.
One of the things that Mitchell is thankful for is that she is not afraid of him. Windsor keeps thanking him for being there ‘looking after’ her but Mitchell always replies that he is not there to look after her but because he loves her.
‘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.’
Paul Bennett, Daily Mail, May 10, 2018.