Dame Barbara Windsor is said to be “struggling” with the current coronavirus lockdown measures, while self-isolating with her husband Scott Mitchell.

The former EastEnders star – who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2014 – is finding it difficult to comprehend why she can’t have visitors at home, according to her friend Christopher Biggins.

He told The Sun: “She’s a little confused as to what’s going on because no one can visit her. She’s used to having a lot of visitors but now she’s asking why people have stopped coming to see her.

“It’s not because she thinks ‘they don’t like me’ because her husband Scott explains to her but she just forgets the explanation and she asks all the time.”

He added that lockdown was “a frustrating time” for Dame Barbara and Scott, as a result.

Since going public with her condition in 2018, the 82-year-old and her husband have become known for their activism concerning dementia.

Last year, she met with prime minister Boris Johnson, presenting him with an open letter signed by 100,000 people which said dementia care in the UK was in a “devastating state”. 

Pictured holding Dame Barbara’s hands, Johnson pledged: “We’ll do this. It’s very hard. We have to sort it out. I’m going to do my best for you. It’s a big old job.”

Months earlier, Scott and a number of Dame Barbara’s former soap co-stars ran the London marathon in her honour, raising more than £100K for the charity Dementia Revolution.