Brian May‘s wife of 23 years Anita Dobson has been a constant support at his side and nursed him at his bedside after he struggled with his health.
Anita, 75, who played Angie Watts on EastEnders, has been at Brian side throughout his setbacks and even saved his life when she acted promptly after he suffered a heart attack in 2020.
On Wednesday, the shaken Queen guitarist, 77, announced he had suffered a stroke and was taken to Frimley Hospital in an ambulance a week ago following the medical emergency.
It is his second health scare in four years, after he endured a heart attack for which he underwent surgery.
He said: ‘That little health hiccup that I mentioned happened about a week ago and what they called it was a minor stroke.
Brian May ‘s wife of 23 years Anita Dobson has been a constant support at his side and nursed him at his bedside after he struggled with his health (pictured at Buckingham Palace last year)
The actress met Brian shortly after she began in EastEnders at a film preview and he invited her to see Queen play at Wembley (pictured around 1985)
The We Will Rock You writer revealed the incident left him temporarily unable to use his left arm.
‘All of a sudden, out of the blue, I didn’t have any control over this arm, so it was a little scary, I have to say.
‘The good news is I’m okay. Just doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing. I’m grounded.
‘I’m not allowed to go out – well, I’m not allowed to drive, not allowed to get on a plane, not allowed to raise the heart rate too high… but I’m good.’
Brian said he is able to play the guitar after being unable to use his hand.
Anita met Brian shortly after she began in EastEnders at a film preview, when Brian was still married to his first wife, Chrissie, with whom he had three young children.
‘He invited me to see Queen play at Wembley, with some friends. Meeting my husband opened a door to a world I’d hitherto only dreamed of. Here was a man who was a god globally. If he asked you to do a record [Brian produced her 1988 album, Talking Of Love], a Learjet appeared to fly you to Vienna.’ Wasn’t she troubled he was married? ‘I didn’t know,’ she previously told the Daily Mail.
Sir Brian May has revealed he suffered a stroke last week that left him unable to use his left arm
Once Anita had left EastEnders, the makers begged her to return twice, but she refused (pictured as Angie Watts)
In 2020, Anita saved her husband’s life after he suffered a heart attack. The actress revealed she initially thought Brian had simply ‘overdone it’ after too much exercise
‘I was heart-wrenched when he told me. We had a terrible row. I was insulted. I thought: “How dare you go out with me if you’re married?” So we just kept a certain distance until we could find a place in life where we could be together. But it was hard, really hard.
‘Everybody gets hurt, and, if there are kids, it’s not good, but if people fall in love there’s nothing you can do about it. Even if you separate, the ache is still there. It stops you moving on because it’s unresolved.
‘We went through hell, but I believe, it was true love. The dust’s settled and I have good relationships with his children and ex-wife.’
In May 1999, it emerged Brian had an affair.
Anita recalled: ‘Nobody’s perfect. We’ve all done things that we’re not proud of but, unfortunately, that became public. I didn’t think I’d ever come back from it. I thought: “That’s it. Over.”
But when I walked away, I thought, “You obviously love this man, and he loves you. You’ve spent your life running away from commitment. Maybe it’s time you stood and figured out why.
‘I just thought, “We’ve gone through all the c**p. It’s time we had the good stuff.” So I said, “Brian, I think I’m ready to get married.”
Brian was still married to his first wife, Chrissie, with whom he had three young children when he met Anita (pictured with Chrissie Mullen May at the British Video Awards in 1986)
Brian is the guitarist in legendary rock band Queen (pictured: John Deacon, Freddie Mercury, Brian and Roger Taylor Queen in 1970)
Anita as EastEnders’ Angie with Dirty Den. She played the role from 1985 to 1988
Anita, who has been engaged four times before marrying Brian, tied the knot in a small register office ceremony in Richmond upon Thames in 2000.
They honeymooned in Venice, where they were blissfully happy and where they return each year.
She said: ‘I wouldn’t be married today if it wasn’t for that affair. I needed to grow up and deal with the fact I was also responsible for our relationship.’ it.
Once Anita had left EastEnders, the makers begged her to return twice, but she refused.
Instead, she took a range of TV, film and theatre roles, receiving a Best Actress nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2003 for Frozen at the National Theatre.
In 2020, Anita saved her husband’s life after he suffered a heart attack.
The actress revealed she initially thought Brian had simply ‘overdone it’ after too much exercise.
Anita was later shocked to learn the real extent of the Queen rocker’s ill health, when he was hospitalised and found to be ‘very near death’.
Other – just as common – tell-tale signs of a looming stroke, often fall under the radar. These include sudden numbness on one side of the body, sudden vertigo and difficulty swallowing
Stroke symptoms are commonly remembered under this four-letter acronym, FAST.
Speaking to The Daily Mail about Brian’s heart attack, Anita recalled: ‘He said, ‘Babe, I think I’m having a heart attack’, I said ‘No, you’ve been exercising and you’ve overdone it‘.’
Brian was quick to emphasised that things were more serious than she thought, as she added: ‘He replied, ‘No, this is different’.’
The same year, Brian spoke about the terrifying health scare.
The musician was recovering from a ripped muscle and trapped nerve as a result of a gardening injury, when he suffered a heart attack amid his recovery.
He said on BBC Morning Live: ‘She did save my life. I had this whole cluster of things go wrong. It was a good job it was lockdown in a way but I was incapacitated with the heart attack, complications from the drugs, then I had sciatica so badly. I couldn’t even crawl.
‘So when you get that bad, you’re just grateful to be alive at the end of it and its thanks to Anita that I am, she’s been there the whole way through it
‘She’s taken care of me and nursed me and whatever.’
Brian said he was ‘grateful to be alive’ after having ‘a catalogue of disasters’ including the heart attack and a near-fatal allergic reaction to medication in the same year.
Brian released an Instagram video in which he explained the shocking series of events that lead to his hospitalisation.
The Queen guitarist was recovering from a ripped muscle and trapped nerve as a result of a gardening injury, when he suffered a heart attack in 2020
Sir Brian was able to see the lighter side of the ordeal – captioning a video on the topic ‘Sheer Heart Attack after one of Queen’s best-known albums
He said: ‘I told you I had a ripped muscle and that was the way I was diagnosed and we thought it was like a bizarre gardening accident… I kind of forgot anything to do with the bum people find amusing… but anyway, it turned out to be not really the case.’
He went on to reveal that after being diagnosed with a rip in his gluteus maximus, he was confused to find that a week later he was still in pain.
He explained: ‘I mean real agony. I wanted to jump at some points. I could not believe the pain. And people are saying ‘that’s not like a ripped muscle’, so eventually I had another MRI.’
‘But the rest of the story is a little more bizarre. I was shocked, I thought I was a healthy guy. Everyone says I’ve got a great blood pressure and I keep fit, I bike, good diet.
‘I had – in the middle of the whole saga of the painful backside – I had a small heart attack. I say small, it’s not something that did me any harm. It was about 40 minutes of pain in the chest and tightness. It’s that feeling in the arms and sweating.
‘And you kind of know, you’ve heard things and you think ‘this is a heart attack’. To cut a long story short, my wonderful doctor drove me to the hospital himself and I had an angiogram [an X-ray used to examine blood vessels.]’
Brian went on to reveal that doctors discovered he had three arteries congested and he was in danger of blocking the supply of blood to his heart.
Doctors suggested that he undergo open heart surgery, but Brian opted for the alternative which was to have three stents put inside his heart.
