Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
She’ll say to me ‘How long have we been together?..’ I say ‘25 years’
Babs’ hubby on agony of seeing decline
DAME Barbara Windsor’s husband has told of his heartache as she begins to forget who he is due to her Alzheimer’s.
Scott Mitchell, married to the Eastenders and Carry On legend since 2000, revealed he was devastated when she first failed to recognise him last year.
During an emotional interview, he also said he has tried to stop her getting confused by putting up lots of photos of them from over the years in their home.
Scott, 55, said: “The day you dread is that day they may not recognise you. I’ve had it twice. I was helping her out of the bath and she looked at me and said, ‘I’m sorry, who are you?’.
“It was very hard, it instantly hurt, and I kept talking, I said ‘It’s me Bar, it’s Scott’. I said ‘Don’t worry, you’re having one of those moments.’
“She got very upset because she realised what she’d done. After 25 years it’s heart-breaking. Maybe one day she won’t know who I am.
“The thing that stays with me is she keeps apologising, for of course no one living with it can help it.”
On putting up snaps to help her, he said: “There’s pictures of us from the beginning. She’ll suddenly say, ‘How long have we been together?’. I say, ‘25 years, look at that picture over there, that was 1993’.”
Barbara, 81, was last seen in public at Enders pal Shane Richie’s panto in Milton Keynes on
December 28 – where she got a standing ovation.
Scott said “her old self ” returns when she goes out to meet friends or does things she loves. He told Good Morning Britain: “She gets herself together for moments like that. When we go to the theatre, something happens. There are still incredible glimpses of Barbara. It’s like her old self comes in.”
But sadly, the returns to form are becoming more fleeting and Barbara has declined so far she can no longer be left alone.
Scott said: “Her confusion is bad. I spend a lot of time explaining where we are. She has trouble identifying our house.
“She’ll say, ‘Are we staying here tonight?’. I can’t leave Barbara by herself any more, life has changed drastically for her.”
Barbara was diagnosed in 2014 and revealed her illness last May, to raise awareness of the condition. Scott and Eastenders actors including Jake Wood, Jamie Borthwick, Adam Woodyatt and Natalie Cassidy will run the London Marathon in her honour under the name Barbara’s Revolutionaries and aim to raise £100,000 for the Dementia Revolution campaign.
Scott says Barbara is “thrilled” they are doing it and thinking of her spurs him on during training.
He said: “When I get tired and think, ‘I’m going to stop’, I think of a number of circumstances. I think of every time I have to explain to Barbara where she is when we’re sitting in our front room – that gets me through the pain barrier.
“That will resonate with every family who is dealing with this.”
Donate at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/barbarasrevolutionaries
When we go to the theatre, something happens. There are still incredible glimpses of Barbara SCOTT MITCHELL ON HOW BABS CAN BEAT THE DECLINE DURING NIGHTS OUT