EastEnders legend Barbara Windsor's widower Scott Mitchell has shared candid details from their 20-year marriage and how they had a "similar attitude to sex".
The former Carry On star, who was twice divorced when she met Scott, 59, who was 27-years her junior - leaving many to question whether they would go the distance.
But the pair proved they were, in fact, the perfect match and remained devoted to one another before she passed away in December 2020, aged 83 after a six-year battle with Alzheimer’s.
Now, her widower Scott has detailing how their marriage wasn't "an open relationship, but not a closed book", in a new book By Your Side: My Life Loving Barbara.
Scott was spurred on to the pen their story by Barbara herself who brought up the topic not long after they received the devastating blow that she had Alzheimer's.
He said honesty was 'vitally important' to his wife to the point where she even openly discussed her previous 'conquests' on their second date.
"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", in extracts from The Sun.
"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."
Scott admitted he was on a downward spiral to drink and drugs and due to their nearly three decades age gap he got into a cycle of returning Babs home before heading out 'to score some coke'.
He explained: "Bar was laid-back, but she wasn’t slapping me on the back either. I’m cool, Scott, but don’t take the p***,” she said, when I stayed out until dawn."
But by the time of her diagnosis in 2014 it proved to be a bitter pill to swallow with Babs first bursting into tears before as they headed home saying: “I’m worried about you, as a man. We don’t have a sex life any more.”
He recalled: "I was a bit taken aback: ''Please, Bar, don’t you worry about any of that.'' 'It’s not right because you’re still a young man', she said.
"I was 54, so not that young, but I guess it’s relative. I replied: ''Please, Bar, let’s not talk about this.'' ''No, Scott. You must do what you have to do. Just please never leave me.''
But the thought was never one which struck Scott as two years on he is still coming to terms with her death but feels fortunate for their lives together.
Scott explained he feels so lucky to have met the actress and they had the greatest love two people could hope to have.''
Babs former ex husbands included Ronnie Knight and then pub landlord Stephen Hollings.
She also had flings with Reggie Kray and his brother Charlie, footballer George Best, Bee Gee Maurice Gibb and fellow Carry On star Sid James.
By Your Side: My Life Loving Barbara Windsor, by Scott Mitchell. Published by Seven Dials is released on October 13, price £20 in hardback. Also available in ebook and audio.
