Dame Judi Dench has shared that she cannot leave her home on her own due to her fading eyesight.
The 90-year-old actress has age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition which leads to a gradual loss of vision.
Speaking to Trinny Woodall's Fearless podcast Dench said that red-carpet premieres now presented a considerable problem although the situation did come with some upsides.
She explained: “Somebody will always be with me. I have to now because I can’t see and I will walk into something or fall over.
"I’ll fall over."
— Pubity (@pubity) January 22, 2025
Judi Dench, 90, shares that her eyesight loss prevents her from going out alone pic.twitter.com/ID4no4c9oU
“I’m always nervous before going to something. I have no idea why. I’m not good at that at all. Not at all. Nor would I be now. And fortunately, I don’t have to be now because I pretend to have no eyesight.”
Two years ago, Dench said that AMD had affected her career as she now struggled to learn lines, having done so largely in the past thanks to a photographic memory, The Guardian reports.
She shared: “I can’t see on a film set any more. And I can’t see to read. But you just deal with it.
“It’s difficult 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.”
Her most recent screen credit was a small role in the Christmas movie Spirited in 2022.
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Earlier that year she had a more substantial part in the Alan Bennett adaptation Allelujah and in 2021 was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for her work on Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast.
The actor has taken part in a number of live appearances over the past year, including in an audience with Gyles Brandreth at a Christmas show at the Palladium, where she paid tribute to her late friend, Maggie Smith.
She also appeared at the Hay literary festival to promote a new book about her long association with the works of William Shakespeare and won plaudits for a TV show following her and unlikely buddy Jay Blades.
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