Dame Judi Dench has opened up about her ongoing battle with macular degeneration, revealing how the condition has profoundly impacted her daily life.
The veteran actress, now 90, first shared her diagnosis back in 2012, explaining that the disease was gradually robbing her of her vision.
In a candid conversation on Trinny Woodall’s Fearless podcast, Dame Judi provided an update, admitting that she can no longer leave her home unaccompanied.
“Somebody will always be with me,” she shared. “I have to now because I can’t see and I will walk into something or fall over.”
The star of stage and screen also explained how her worsening eyesight impacts her life, admitting she now feels a wave of nerves before attending events.
She confessed: “I’m always nervous before going to something. I have no idea why… I’m not good at being on my own at all, nor would I be now.”
One silver lining, however, is the relief of no longer having to hide her condition. “And fortunately, I don’t have to now because I pretend to have no eyesight,” she said with her trademark wit.
Over the years, Dame Judi has shared glimpses of her journey with macular degeneration, which is a common medical condition that affects the middle part of your vision. According to the NHS, it usually first affects people in their 50s and 60s. It does not cause total blindness but can make everyday activities like reading and recognising faces difficult.
In 2023, she revealed how her vision loss has affected her work. “I mean, I can’t see on a film set any more, and I can’t see to read, so I can’t see much. But, you know, you just deal with it. Get on.”
She told The Mirror’s Notebook magazine: “It’s difficult for me if I have any length of a part. I haven’t yet found a way. Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory.”
Back in 2023, Dame Judi revealed on The Graham Norton Show that she has relied on her photographic memory but due to her worsening eyesight was no longer a strength.
She shared on the chat show: “It has become impossible and because I have a photographic memory, I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page.
“I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of Twelfth Night right now.”
