Dame Judi Dench has provided a heart-breaking update on her health and vision.
The belfast star, 90, appeared on an episode of the Fearless podcast alongside host Trinny Woodall, where they discussed Dench’s eye disease and subsequent vision loss.
“Somebody will always be with me,” the actor confessed. “I have to now because I can’t see, and I will walk into something or fall over.”
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“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. And fortunately, I don’t have to now because I pretend to have no eyesight,” she laughed.
According to the Macular Disease Foundation Australiaage-related macular degeneration, commonly shortened to AMD, is a chronic and painless disease of the macula, an area at the very center of the retina, at the back of the eye.
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The illness causes “progressive loss of central vision” but leaves one’s peripheral vision intact.
“This loss of central vision affects the ability to read, watch TV, and recognize faces. But, by itself, AMD doesn’t lead to total vision loss,” the foundation explains.
The Academy Award winner first opened up about her diagnosis in 2012, later revealing she was increasingly struggling to read scripts and learn her lines.
“It has become impossible,” Dench said on The Graham Norton Show in 2023 of being able to read scripts.
“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.”
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The Philomena actress added: “I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of Twelfth Night right now.”
Dench says she’d rely on memorizing scripts; however, without being able to physically see them, it’s become an extremely challenging process.
In 2022, Dench explained that her AMD was in its advanced stages, leaving her unable to read or write.
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Dame Judi Dench’s life and career in pictures
“I’ve got to teach myself a new way of learning. I have a photographic memory, so a person saying to me, ‘This is your line’… I can do that. And I have many people who can help me ,” she told Louis Thereoux in an episode of his bbc 2 show.
Dench’s most recent film was spirited in 2022.
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