Broadcasting legend Dame Barbara Windsor has been moved into a care home, her husband Scott Mitchell has revealed.
The 82-year-old has been suffering with Alzheimer's disease for the last six years and her condition has been steadily accelerating for the worse, with Mitchell recently admitting that she would soon require full-time care.
Speaking to The Sun, Mitchell revealed that that day has come and she is now in a care home in London, but is struggling to adjust to her new surroundings.
"I won't kid you, it hurts," he said. "She still seems unsettled and, in her lucid moments, I can see she's worked out this isn't temporary. She's still thinking and saying I've let her down. Of course that's a painful thing to hear, but I know it's not the Barbara I know speaking.
"And, let's be honest, who else is she going to blame? I just have to smile and tell her I love her and everything I do is for her best wellbeing. I am no different to millions of other people who would have experienced this."
He added: "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. She still thinks her parents are around. On the day we went, she pointed to one of the photos and said, 'There's mummy' and recently, she often asks, 'Does my dad know where I am?' which I believe is what she asked her mum when she was evacuated to Blackpool during the Second World War."
Having learned of her diagnosis in 2014, Windsor took the decision to return to EastEnders to kill off her much-loved character Peggy Mitchell after 22 years.
Neil Wilkes
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