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Dame Judi Dench has given fans an update on her macular degeneration as she revealed that she can no longer leave her home alone.
The 90-year-old actress revealed in 2012 that she was dealing with macular degeneration and slowly losing her vision.
While on Trinny Woodall’s Fearless podcast, Dame Judi gave an update on her condition, explaining why she needs more assistance.
‘Somebody will always be with me,’ she said. ‘I have to now because I can’t see and I will walk into something or fall over.’
She added that she is always worried about going to events now: ‘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.’
Dame Judi Dench was honest about her health in the interview (Picture: Trinny)
Dame Judi has given a devastating update on her eyesight deterioration (Picture: Jim Ruymen/UPI/REX/Shutterstock)
What is macular degeneration?
The NHS website explains that age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that can blur your central vision.
It does not cause total blindness. But it can make everyday activities like reading and recognising faces difficult.
It usually first affects people in their 50s and 60s.
She then revealed that one saving grace is that she no longer has to keep her condition a secret and pretend she is able to see.
‘And fortunately, I don’t have to now because I pretend to have no eyesight.’
Dame Judi has given updates on her eyesight over the years and in 2023 revealed she was no longer able to see sets.
‘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.’
Dame Judi can no longer leave her home alone (Picture: Dinendra Haria/LNP/REX/Shutterstock)
She emphasised the use of her photographic memory on The Graham Norton Show in February 2023.
‘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,’ she said.
The star has been open about her health struggles (Picture: Anthony Harvey/REX/Shutterstock)
In 2021 at an event for the London-based Vision Foundation, Dame Judi also revealed she struggles to read scripts now.
‘You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult.
‘I’ve had to find another way of learning lines and things, which is having great friends of mine repeat them to me over and over and over again.
‘So I have to learn through repetition, and I just hope that people won’t notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!’
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