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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Dominique Hines

Barbara Windsor’s widower Scott Mitchell says he will not find love again

The late Dame Barbara Windsor married Scott Mitchell in April 2000

(Picture: Dave Benett)

Dame Barbara Windsor’s widower Scott Mitchell believes he will never love again.

Speaking to David Walliams about his book By Your Side: My Life Loving Barbara Windsor, Mitchell, 59, said of his late wife: "On paper, [our romance] it shouldn’t have worked, but it did with us.

“I am so thankful that she chose me to share her life with because I don’t think I will ever find another."

He also said he felt “privileged” to be there for the end of her life.

“I was blessed to have crossed paths with Barbara,” he added.

The EastEnders icon died from Alzheimer’s - a disease Scott labelled as "cruel" as it took away Windsor’s "incredible memory" - in 2020 aged 83.

Dame Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders alongside Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden as Grant and Phil Mitchell (PA Media)

Mitchell continued: "She said to me, ‘I was doing this thing today and I just went blank, the lines wouldn’t come to me.’ I said to her, ‘Bar, maybe this is the time you need to come away from EastEnders.’

“She loved it, so it was a hard thing to get her to stop.”

Mitchell also revealed the late star had encouraged him to write their story shortly after she received her diagnosis.

He also spills the beans about the pair’s sex life in the book.

In extracts shared with the Sun, he writes: "She said it was always good to brush the cobwebs away. Ours was not an open relationship, but it wasn’t a closed book either.

Dame Barbara Mitchell arriving to deliver an Alzheimer's Society open letter to 10 Downing Street in 2019 (PA)

"She had always said sex was sex and love was love, and she wasn’t one for double standards, so she kept her reservations to herself and never asked me directly."

Mitchell also admitted he had been trolled by the late star’s fans, who accuse him of "playing the long game" after her death.

Criticism came after the couple’s joint company moved into his sole name following Windsor’s death. Mitchell recalled: "I don’t look at comments but for some reason, one was above the line and someone had said, ‘I see the long game paid off’."

The late actress and Mitchell wed in April 2000 and, due to their 27-year age gap, were often subjected to cynicism about their relationship.

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