Cilla Black complained about having a "few aches" in recent weeks.
The TV icon and showbiz legend passed away on Saturday night (01.08.15) at her Spanish home in Estepona, Costa del Sol and her close friend Barbara Windsor revealed that Cilla, 72, had been complaining of minor ailments.
However, Barbara, 77, said despite her aches, Cilla was still as glamorous as ever.
She said: "I’ve seen her in the last few weeks looking immaculate – as always – but the last time I saw her I said, ‘How’s it going?’ so she said, ‘I don’t feel too good, I’ve got a few aches and that. I said ‘Darling haven’t we all, haven’t we all? We’ve got to face this haven’t we?’ but she laughed it off, you know, she said ‘Oh but I don’t like having the hearing aids and things like that’ and I said, ‘Well it’s old age creeping in darling but look at us.’
"I always said, ‘Look at us! We don’t look it do we? We still look in our 40s dear!’ and being like that… It was lovely to have seen her the last couple of weeks, always looking immaculate. There was one night I met her at a charity function and there was her, me and Shirley Bassey putting the world to rights… That’s how I’m going to remember her."
Barbara added that while she is devastated, she was trying to remember "all the good things because there were lots".
She told ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain’: "I had a place in Spain so I used to see her when she was in Spain and we used to go along to the local bar and sing together you know and things like that so I’ve known her personally quite well but I’m really sad today about it because I’m really [surprised]."
"This is a big shock and I’m very, very sad."
Cilla Black had complained about minor ailments recently
