Christopher Biggins has revealed he has undergone open heart surgery to replace a valve in his heart following a recent health scare.
The pantomime legend, 72, told The Sun: ‘I’m like the bionic man. I’ve had a new knee put in and I’ve had a new valve put into my heart. It’s not easy getting old.’
Christopher, who also won I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here and appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, was also diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2010.
He revealed that going to an increasing amount of funerals and memorial services in recent years made him realise that life is fleeting.
‘It makes you aware that life is very shallow,’ Christopher admits. ‘It’s not easy. You never know when you’re going to go.
‘I’ve always been aware of being a big boy — aware of my weight and looking at going on diets.’
One such funeral this year was that of his close friend Dame Barbara Windsor, who died in December and whose funeral took place in January.
The much-loved actress died at the age of 83 in December, six years after she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and numbers of guests were restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Christopher, who’d shared a 40-year friendship with the EastEnders and Carry On legend was one of just 29 that were able to attend, and did a speech on the day.
He told The Sun at the time: ‘It was an extremely sad day. There were just 29 of us there because that morning one of the guests got Covid, can you believe it?
‘To play to 29 people who were sad and upset, it was very difficult to get the odd laugh here and there.
‘And of course, you had to have a laugh because Barbara was a funny woman. Most of my memories are of having a great laugh with her. That is what she was about so it was really terribly sad.’
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