Barbara Windsor moves into a care home amid dementia battle

The much-loved performer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014.

Speaking to The Sun, the actress’s husband, Scott Mitchell, revealed that she moved into a care home in mid-July.

“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 Mitchell

Windsor’s confusion ‘escalated again in lockdown’, and Mitchell, her husband of 20 years, notes she “became a lot more frail”. After choosing a care home that “just felt right”, he arranged for a carer to be with the EastEnders star 24/7 while she settles in.

“I put family pictures up, one of her getting her Damehood from the Queen, and one of her, Paul O’Grady and Cilla Black at the Royal Variety Performance. And framed posters of her work, like Sparrows Can’t Sing, and Entertaining Mr Sloane. I’ve tried to make it so she looks around and there’s some familiarity.” – Scott Mitchell

Speaking of the day he left her at the home, Mitchell said: “I will never forget the feeling of emptiness. I felt sick in the pit of my stomach that I’d left her. I still feel like that”.

“By the time I got home and went to bed, I just felt desperately sad. It’s been 27 years since we met and we spent so much of that time in each other’s company. It feels like another chapter has gone.” – Scott Mitchell

Windsor, 82, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s six years ago, but she only went public with the diagnosis in 2018.

The actress is principally known for her portrayals of a ‘good time girl’ in nine of the Carry On films and for playing the role of no-nonsense Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders.