EastEnders icon Barbara Windsor previously admitted that she had a crush her character Peggy Mitchell’s sons.
The legendary actress, who the played the Queen Vic landlady in the BBC One soap from 1994 until 2014, passed away on December 10 aged 83.
Barbara’s husband Scott Mitchell confirmed the sad news that she had died peacefully from Alzheimer’s at a London care home.
He said she would be remembered for the “love, fun, friendship and brightness she brought to all our lives”.
The bubbly blonde star candidly opened about her colourful love life in her autobiography All of Me, including her affair with Carry On co-star Sid James behind her first husband Ronnie Knight’s back.
Her affair with Sid lasted a decade until his death in 1976.
Eastenders icon Barbara Windsor previously admitted that she had a crush her character Peggy Mitchell’s sons (Image: BBC)
She went on to admit in her 2000 memoir that she fancied both Steve McFadden and Ross Kemp, who play Peggy’s sons Phil and Grant Mitchell.
“I fancy them both rotten,” Barbara confessed.
“[Ross] loves Mrs Merton and I got a bit miffed, actually. I thought, ‘Of you are going to go for the older woman you might as well go for me’. But he thinks of me as Mum.”
Grant Mitchell star Ross had a close friendship with Barbara since they first met on set in the mid-90s.
The Peggy Mitchell star said she was “mifed” that Ross Kemp loved Mrs Merton (Image: PA)
Taking to Twitter on Friday evening, the actor paid a sensitive tribute to her life and legacy, reaching out to her beloved husband Scott.
He said: “Dame Barbara Windsor, the woman who always had time for everybody, has sadly left us. I will miss Bar always.
“My thoughts are with her husband Scott, who could have done no more and who stayed strong for her to the very end.”
A representative for Phil Mitchell actor Steve McFadden told PA he was “devastated”.
National treasure Barbara rose to fame after her appearances in the Carry On films and she received a BAFTA Award nomination for Sparrows Can’t Sing in 1983.
The TV personality had been battling dementia for many years, and spent the last few months of her life in a care home.
EastEnders continues on BBC One on Tuesday at 7.35pm
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
