She may forget her glorious career and why people adore her but she is still great fun & looking gorgeous
ACTOR Christopher Biggins has 40 years of wonderful memories of his beloved pal Barbara Windsor. Starring on stage together, laughter-filled nights out, holidays in the Lake District.
But yesterday, after Barbara’s husband Scott Mitchell revealed Babs, 80, has Alzheimer’s, Biggins spoke of how the EastEnders legend is forgetting those fun times, her glittering career... and even why the public love her.
Biggins, 69, told the Mirror: “Barbara Windsor is truly an actress of the people. She always has time for everyone.
“You go out with her and people want to chat, get an autograph and have a selfie. Because she is adored. Everyone wants a piece of her, and she is very happy to give it.
“The only problem is that in the future, and sometimes already I think, she won’t understand why. She may forget her whole glorious career, why she is so famous, and all the people whose lives she touched.
“But it if that’s the case then it’s down to us, her dear friends to help her amazing husband, Scott, to remind her.”
Fans and fellow stars were heartbroken to learn that Babs has been living with Alzheimer’s since April 2014.
She kept it secret from all but her closest pals, but as her memory worsened and rumours began to circulate, devoted Scott, 55, decided to speak out.
He said “Since her 80th birthday last August a definite continual confusion has set in, so it’s becoming a lot more difficult to hide.”
He revealed vulnerable Babs “feels a kind of shame” about her condition and keeps asking him: “Do the public know that I’m not well?”
But he added: “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 they will now know she has got Alzheimer’s and will accept it for what it is.”
Barbara’s memory problems had been spotted by fans and insiders.
At an awards lunch in December she presented fellow actress June Whitfield with a Lifetime Achievement gong and appeared to be confused about when they starred together on EastEnders. At the same event reporters asked her how she celebrated her 80th birthday four months earlier. She replied: “I can’t remember” before asking Scott who went to her party. When quizzed about a possible role in Corrie, she admitted: “I don’t think I could learn those lines.” But Scott batted off questions about her memory saying: “I don’t think it’s anything to do with that. I think it’s to do with one wanting to take it a bit easier.” Close pal Biggins says that is typical of the way Scott has been protecting his wife of 18 years as her Alzheimer’s progresses. And he insisted that, despite the heartache and hardship, her “heroic” partner is ensuring Barbara still enjoys life, love and laughter. She has continued working despite her diagnosis, and was recording as a presenter last month.
The actress is hosting a documentary titled Double Acts for BBC Radio 2, which will air later this year. She was pictured at the BBC’s London studios in April.
Biggins, who always calls the Carry On star “Bar”, says: “We met in an Old Time Music Hall. I was the Chairman and she sang The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. We went on to do lots of shows like that and then Guys and Dolls, which was fantastic. She has been a very, very dear, good friend – and still is. Yes, this is a terrible illness but people shouldn’t be talking about Bar in the past tense. “She is still great fun to be with. I went out with her three weeks ago and she laughed a lot and wanted to know everything that was going on. “She’d been to see the Tina Turner musical, too, and absolutely loved it. She’s not looking frail – Bar is still as buxom as ever! That girl is looking gorgeous!”
Biggins was one of the few friends who knew about Barbara’s diagnosis. He said: “Towards the end of her time in EastEnders, I realised how difficult she was finding that. But it’s a terrible workload and I just thought it was getting too much.
“Looking back now, you realise it was the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
“But thankfully Scott was there to support her. He is the most incredible man and I understand
Babs feels a kind of shame and asks: Do the public know I’m not well? SCOTT MITCHELL BABS’ HUBBY REVEALS DIAGNOSIS
exactly why he has spoken out now. When Bar goes out to, say a charity function, she goes round to nearly every table to say hello and to make everyone feel wonderful.
“And that is an incredible gift... she has time, a smile or a giggle for everyone.
“She and Scott still want her to get out and about so he did this to let people know that she has a problem. She’s fine at the moment but it’s unpredictable.
“Bar and I would go out a lot and go travelling together. And 18 months ago we went to a hotel on Lake Ullswater [in the Lake District].
“I noticed that you would say something, and then a few minutes later Bar would ask a question about what you’d just been talking about.
“So, charmingly, Scott would just say, as if in passing, ‘Oh yes, Biggins talked about that five minutes ago’ and she’d say, ‘Oh, course he did, course he did!’
“She was protecting herself, I think from people knowing what was happening to her. But I think it’s good that they do now know.” Biggins went on: “The problem for Scott is that he lives with it 24 hours a day – like all carers of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s. I take my hat off to them all, and certainly to Scott.”
Biggins revealed his mother, Pam, died just four weeks ago at the age of 93. She had become increasingly confused in her later years and it gave him some small insight into what loved ones and carers endure.
He said: “I went down to see her in Salisbury two days before she died and she didn’t know who I was, or my brother was.
“Before that, when you were with her, she’d ask a question and then ask the same thing again minutes later ‘What did I order for dinner...when are you coming to visit again?’ constantly repeating things so you have to constantly reply. I think that must be the most frustrating thing for people with Alzheimer’s and those caring for them .... repeating things over and over again. It is like living in a permanent Groundhog Day.”
But he says Barbara and Scott will both be overwhelmed by the public response to the news of her condition. Biggins said: “Bar is a national treasure and the whole nation is wishing her well.
“I’m sure she’d be pleased that the publicity about this is making people more aware of Alzheimer’s and the research being done into it.
“And I think Scott will be buoyed up by all the love that is pouring out for Barbara. “At the moment she is fine, but he is the one who has to think of the future. Because it isn’t going to be easy.”
She has a gift... she has time, a smile, a giggle for everyone CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS ON WHY BABS IS SO LOVED