Former EastEnders star Ross Kemp said he was plied with tea and shortbread biscuits and “laughed a lot” when he recently visited his “second mum” Dame Barbara Windsor.
The actress, 80, who played Peggy Mitchell in the BBC1 soap, was recently revealed to be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Kemp, 53, told Good Morning Britain that when he went to catch up with his “very brave” screen mother on Monday, one cup of tea turned into five.
“I saw her on Monday. I went for a cup of tea and I was there for three-and-a-half hours,” he said.
Visiting my lovely Bar…whoops, I mean Dame Barbara Windsor x pic.twitter.com/dLKvUrhfef
— Ross Kemp (@RossKemp) June 18, 2018
The actor, who played Grant Mitchell in Albert Square, said: “I think her and husband Scott have been very brave putting it out there and hopefully it will help people with the same condition be more open about it.
“What she’s done is very brave. She’s got a great husband in Scott, who has been very supportive.
“I think it will help others if they want to talk about it, to be able to. And the more we talk about any issue in our lives the better we are dealing with it.”
The star added: “I went for a cup of tea and I had five cups of tea, three shortbread biscuits, which I’m not supposed to have on my diet, and I laughed a lot.
“She’s got this great ability. When she walks through that front door, she’s on… It was like seeing my second mum.”