Off The Record
Judi Dench Opens Up About Her Incurable Health Battle
Legendary actress Judi Dench is not just fascinating and hilarious, but also obviously highly accomplished.
The loss of her spouse at a young age and her decade-long fight with a ‘traumatic’ visual ailment have both taken a toll on the 88-year-old Oscar winner.
Dame Judi Dench has maintained a charming look of youthfulness throughout her incredible 60-year career.
Dench has been acclaimed as a leading actress in the United Kingdom since she first appeared on stage in 1957.
Dench, who was born in England, has had a legendary career in both film and theater. She is universally lauded for her work in both mediums.
The legendary actress is understandably pleased with her achievements, but she takes exception to being labeled a “national treasure.”
“For one thing,” she told People, “it’s a terrible label. So dusty, so dreary. For another, it relegates me to being an 86-year-old woman. Whereas in my mind’s eye I’m 6ft and willowy and about 39.”
But Dench’s personal life indicates that she has gone through a lot, even if she feels like a young lady.
And now, at age 87, the ills are beginning to manifest, as they do in all of us.
Michael Williams, the spouse of the Oscar winner for best actress, died in 2001.
They tied the knot in 1971, and theirs was a happy union until his untimely death from lung cancer
In 2010, Dench was featured in a devastating interview in which she discussed the death of her husband.
Dench, sniffling, admitted that she would never get over the death of her husband. Michael went away at the age of 65.
”He was the most unselfish man, and he wouldn’t ever attribute that to anything that might be between us… Oh, God, how he used to make me laugh. He used to make me absolutely howl,” she said.
After Michael died, Dench assumed she would never find love again. However, the actress has been dating naturalist David Mills since 2010.
”I wasn’t even prepared to be ready for it. It was very, very gradual and grown up. It’s just wonderful,” she told The Times in 2014.
Judi Dench eye condition
Dench has stated in recent interviews that she has no plans to retire from acting, despite the fact that it is increasingly difficult for her to do so.
Actress Judi Dench recently appeared on The Graham Norton Show, where she highlighted the decline in her eyesight over the past decade as a result of her long-standing struggle with advanced macular degeneration.
”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,” the 88-year-old actor said when discussing the difficulty she faces when learning her lines.
The Oscar winner disclosed in 2012 that she suffered from macular degeneration, a condition that causes central vision blurring.
”In response to the numerous articles in the media concerning my eye condition – macular degeneration- I do not wish for this to be overblown,” she told ET at the time.
”This condition is something that thousands and thousands of people all over the world are having to contend with…and it’s something I have learnt to cope with and adapt to — and it will not lead to blindness.”
No cure
Treatment can help decrease the disease’s course, but there is currently no cure.
Ten years later, Dench said it’s “impossible” for her to read since her eyesight has deteriorated. In 2022, she was questioned how serious her condition was by Louis Theroux.
”Bad. Bad enough. Bad enough in that you’re quite fuzzy. You’re just a tad fuzzy,” Dench answered.
Her poor eyesight is, unfortunately, extending into her personal life.
”I can’t read the paper now, I can’t do the crossword, I can’t read a book,” she told Radio Times in 2021.
The 88-year-old Dame has no intentions to retire, despite the fact that some aspects of acting have become quite tough.
”I don’t want to retire. I’m not doing much at the moment because I can’t see. It’s bad.”
To get things done, she turns to her contacts in the business world. The beloved actress, thankfully, has an excellent recall.
”You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult,” Dench said. “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!”
Numerous people all around the world suffer from advanced macular degeneration, which is a dreadful condition.
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It causes blindness, which is already terrible, but there is currently no treatment available.
I have faith that a solution will be found sometime soon…
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