Barbara Windsor's widow on being judged over age gap

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Scott Mitchell, 59, revealed how fans of his late wife, Dame Barbara Windsor, would often accuse him of being a “gold digger”. However, the actor set the record straight during a recent interview on the What if? Podcast with Lorraine Kelly and her daughter Rosie.

Scott explained that despite the horrible accusations he received, the late actress was £1 million in debt at the time.

Scott admitted: “We knew it was going to be difficult to be together, but we just wanted to be together, so we just said we’d take it – whatever came at us we’d take it.”

Rosie then asked: “How did you deal with people who were calling you a gold digger and were being quite horrible, to be honest?”

Scott explained: “I think personally at that time my confidence wasn’t great, in actual fact.

“I could wear a great mask and I could appear to be confident but actually deep down I was very insecure and I guess I had quite a low self worth, which I could never understand where it came from, why it was there…

“You know, I’ve kind of done a lot of work on myself since that time, so I wasn’t really good at handling all of that.”

Scott continued: “The ironic thing about being called a gold digger is it turned out that Barbara had a debt of £1 million at the time.

“So I must’ve been the worst gold digger that you could ever meet in your life.

“I went for the one with the £1 million debt to have a wonderful life with,” Scott quipped.

Scott first got together with the iconic Peggy Mitchell actress back in 1992 when she was in her 50s and he was in his 20s.

They later married in 2000 and stayed together for twenty years after their wedding until her death in 2020.

The iconic actress was married three times in her life, first to Ronnie Knight in 1964, then to Stephen Hollings in 1986 after her first divorce.

The couple had met through Scott’s parents, who had invited him to meet Barbara, hoping the veteran actress could impart some wisdom on their son who was just starting out on his own acting career. 

On BBC’s The One Show back in October, Scott spoke about his late wife in anticipation of his recently released book, which she predicted he would write. 

Scott explained: “She just said to me: ‘One day when I’m gone they will ask you to do a book.

“’You’ll do a good one, I know that, but you must be honest otherwise there’s no point in doing it’.”

Although the world knew Barbara as a superstar, Scott explained that she “was simply Barb, the love of my life”.

At the start, Scott said Barbara would tell people he was simply “a mate” or giving her a helping hand at the moment. 

However, the couple were not able to stay out of the limelight for long due to Dame Barbara’s fame.

The actress was a household name due to her portrayal of Peggy Mitchell on EastEnders.

Although the world knew Barbara as a superstar, Scott explained that she “was simply Barb, the love of my life”.

At the start, Scott said Barbara would tell people he was simply “a mate” or giving her a helping hand at the moment. 

However, the couple were not able to stay out of the limelight for long due to Dame Barbara’s fame.

The actress was a household name due to her portrayal of Peggy Mitchell on EastEnders.

Source: Read Full Article