Dame Barbara Windsor’s devoted husband Scott Mitchell has paid tribute to his ‘wife, best friend and soul mate’, after she passed away on Thursday.
The EastEnders legend died peacefully in a London care home at 8.35pm aged 83, with Scott with her until the very end as he spent her ‘last seven days by her side’.
Scott, 57, who married Barbara in 2000, was her primary carer in her later years before she was moved into a full time residential care home in August, after being diagnosed with Alzheimers in 2014.
True love story: Dame Barbara Windsor’s devoted husband Scott Mitchell has paid tribute to his ‘wife, best friend and soul mate’, after she passed away on Thursday (pictured April 2019)
In an emotional tribute, Scott wrote: ‘Her passing was from Alzheimer’s/Dementia and Barbara eventually died peacefully and I spent the last seven days by her side.
‘Myself, her family and friends will remember Barbara with love, a smile and affection for the many years of her love, fun, friendship and brightness she brought to all our lives and the entertainment she gave to so many thousands of others during her career.
‘Barbara’s final weeks were typical of how she lived her life. Full of humour, drama and a fighting spirit until the end.
Devoted: Scott, 57, who married Barbara in 2000, was her primary carer before she was moved into a care home in August. Here they are raising awareness for the disease in 2019
Loved: The EastEnders legend died peacefully in a London care home at 8.35pm aged 83, with Scott saying he spent her ‘last seven days by her side’ (pictured in 2014)
‘It was not the ending that Barbara or anyone else living with this very cruel disease deserve. I will always be immensely proud of Barbara’s courage, dignity and generosity dealing with her own illness and still trying to help others by raising awareness for as long as she could.
‘Dementia/Alzheimer’s remains the UKs number one killer. Although in challenging times, I urge the Prime Minister, his Government and other parties to be true to their previous promises and invest more into Dementia/Alzheimer’s Research and Care.
‘Thank you to all the drs, nurses and carers who are angels at the Care Home for your kindness and care to Barbara and I throughout her stay with you. You are my heroes.
‘And my gratitude to our family, friends and everyone in the media and the general public for all the good wishes and warm support that has been shown to Barbara over the last few years during her illness. Barbara deeply appreciated that.
‘May you rest in peace now my precious Bar. I’ve lost my wife, my best friend and soul mate and my heart or life will never feel the same without you.
Until the very end: The EastEnders legend died peacefully in a London care home at 8.35pm aged 83, with Scott saying he spent her ‘last seven days by her side'(pictured in 2016)
‘I will be making no further statements and now need the time to grieve this painful, personal loss.’
Scott previously spoke back in August about how he was ‘heartbroken’ after putting the actress into a full-time residential care home due to her battle with dementia and had been put in a wheelchair because she had begun to struggle to walk.
The move took place following advice from her neurologist.
Speaking to The Sun, Scott revealed: ‘I feel I’m on an emotional rollercoaster. I walk around, trying to keep busy, then burst in to tears. It feels like a bereavement.
‘It’s always been my biggest fear, that one day I would have to take her somewhere and she’d be thinking, “Why would he do this to me?” That fear has become a reality. It’s something I never wanted.’
Scott fought back tears as he spoke of taking Barbara to the care home, as he confessed the decision left him feeling ‘so raw’.
He added that Barbara’s neurologist advised him to tell her she would be going away for a few days as her doctors changed her medication.
Saying he felt ‘awful’ when taking her to the care home as she ‘didn’t know’ what was happening, he added: ‘Walking out of the house that day was an incredibly tough thing to do because, the reality is, I doubt if Barbara will ever return.’
As he emotionally reflected on how Barbara has been while being taken care of by a 24/7 carer, Scott admitted he felt she realised in her lucid moments that the move was not temporary and believed he had ‘let her down’.
Saying she sometimes blamed him for the move, Scott claimed he knew it wasn’t the Barbara he knows who is doing so and felt it was understandable that she would feel that way because ‘who else is she going to blame’.
On the day he took her to the care home, Scott admitted he felt ‘sick to the pit of [his] stomach’ for leaving her there when they’d spent so much time together during their 27-years together.
In the months prior to taking Barbara to the care home Scott had round-the-clock carers staying in their house, as the star would often wake up in the night and fall due to her ailing health.
Scott revealed at the time that he was told the upsetting development by a specialist after her Alzheimer’s battle ‘worryingly progressed’.
The theatrical agent added that he had encountered some ‘fairly dark moments’ since the appointment.
While appearing on ITV’s Living with Dementia with the EastEnders star’s former on-screen son Ross Kemp, Scott admitted sending her to a care home was something he had ‘always feared’.
Dame Barbara as Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders – along with her on-screen sons Grant Mitchell (played by Ross Kemp) and Phil Mitchell (played by Steve McFadden)
He explained: ‘It’s the thing I’ve always feared. He’s basically telling me I need to prepare myself that at some point it may not be sustainable to give her the kind of care she needs at the house.
‘I’ve had some fairly dark moments since he said that because there’s a part of me that knows that most likely is the truth and that’s what needs to happen. There’s another part of me which can’t imagine letting her go.
‘I can’t imagine leaving that lady when she talks to me the way she does and putting her somewhere and her thinking, “Why has he done this to me?”
Devastated: Scott revealed how his wife began to cry in the neurologist’s office when they were given the bad news in April 2014
Barbara, who played EastEnder’s most famous landlady Peggy Mitchell for over 20 years, chose to keep her condition secret for four years before asking her husband to make the announcement in May 2018.
Earlier this year, Scott said Barbara felt an ‘incredible sense of comfort’ knowing that she had helped other people in their battle with Alzheimer’s.
He had planned to run the London Marathon this year in aid of raising awareness about the disease, but the event was cancelled.
Devoted: Scott said Barbara felt an ‘incredible sense of comfort’ knowing she had helped other people in their Alzheimer’s battle. Pictured here in February
Speaking at the launch, he said: ‘When I say to her, “Barbara you will not believe how many people you are helping with this”, she says, ”Am I?’ And you can see it gives her a sense of comfort.’
‘It gives her an incredible sense of comfort because all through her career she was always a very charitable person and she always got out there. She was patron to many charities and whenever she could help other people, she did, and that mindset is still there.’
The Goodnight Sweetheart actor helped raise a record breaking £4 million for Alzheimer’s Society’s charity by completing the the track in 2019.
Dame Barbara has massively raised awareness of the condition by sharing her own diagnosis and appeared in a Dementia Revolution appeal video in 2018.
Screen star: Dame Barbara has massively raised awareness of the condition by sharing her own diagnosis. Pictured here in a Dementia Revolution appeal video in 2018