Dame Barbara Windsor's husband, Scott Mitchell, appeared on ITV's Loose Women to talk about living with his wife's Alzheimer's, and heartbreakingly revealed she is starting to forget him.
The couple have been married for 18 years, and Scott described his biggest fear as being Barbara forgetting who he was.
But he explained to the panel how he had to come to terms with his fear, as Barbara forgot who he was just last week.
Scott also spoke of the moment the doctor told them both that Barbara had developed Alzheimer's. The actress turned to her husband, and said: "I'm so sorry."
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He recalled: "It happened the other week, I helped her out of the bath and she looked at me and said, 'I don't know who you are'."
Scott, who is 25 years younger than 81-year-old Barbara, told the panel how his wife, who was once the queen of soaps on Eastenders and started her career in comedy with the Carry On films, has now lost some of that famous 'sparkle'.
He said: "I've always said, something happened to her personality. It was almost as if, I've always felt some veil came over her. You think to yourself, 'Well maybe she's getting a bit older, she's 81 now.' She was in her early 70s then. So, I accepted that as part of the course."
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Recruitment Consultant Scott also admitted it can be very difficult at times to live with a family member affected by Alzheimer's, and he has a huge amount of guilt for when he loses patience with Barbara's repetitive moments.
He said: "Obviously, the thing I think that most people who have a loved one with this illness will get is the testing, challenging thing of the repetitive nature of it.
"For instance, when you're sitting there of an evening and maybe the same question comes at you, however many times, let's say eight to 20 times in one evening, sometimes it's hard to keep that calmness in your voice, to not show that you're slightly irritated.
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"As much as you love someone, you're human and you get to that point where you yourself may have had a day - I've got my own work to do, I'm thinking about Barbara - occasionally I show it."
Scott is currently training to run the London Marathon next year to raise money for the treatment of dementia - of which Alzheimer's is the most common form - and told the panel that he will be joined by some of Barbara's old Eastenders co-stars.
For more help and support on Alzheimer's disease, you can visit here.
Featured Image Credit: PA
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