Dame Barbara Windsor’s husband has said she apologises to him every night because of her Alzheimer’s disease.
The actress, 81, was diagnosed with the condition in 2014, and husband Scott Mitchell said she is “very sensitive to others” and is not showing an aggressive side because of the disease.
He said she shares her gratitude nightly for looking after her.
Mr Mitchell, 55, told the Sunday People newspaper that Dame Barbara’s “sweet side” has come out.
He said: “So far she hasn’t had that aggression that I know some people do get. That is part of it, that may come, I don’t know. But at the moment she is very sensitive to others.
“She keeps apologising to me for the fact that she’s not well. So she is very aware which is why I am very sensitive about conversations.
“Literally every night she will say to me, ‘I’m so sorry about this’. And she thanks me for looking after her. I say to her, ‘You don’t have to thank me’.”
Mr Mitchell, who married the EastEnders and Carry On star in 2000, is having therapy to cope with the struggles of her condition, which he has previously said has got to the point where she cannot be left alone.
He said: “I look after myself, I take myself away and see a therapist. I have no shame in saying that.”
Mr Mitchell previously revealed that Dame Barbara’s memories are triggered and the effects of dementia eased when she watches herself in Carry On films and EastEnders.
He will run the London Marathon with a number of EastEnders stars in a team called Barbara’s Revolutionaries, to raise money for the Dementia Revolution, a campaign formed by charities Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK.
He and the team, which includes Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale) and Jake Wood (Max Branning), are hoping to raise £100,000.