Dame Judi Dench says that she can’t read scripts or see on film sets anymore.
Dench has spent nearly 60 years working in the entertainment industry. She made her stage debut in 1957 and her film debut in 1964 with The Third Secret.
Since then, she’s had roles in films including Philomena and Shakespeare in Love, the latter of which earned her an Oscar in 1998.
In addition to her role as M in the Bond films, Judi is well-known for her work with Daniel Craig’s Bond.
The British actress has also succeeded on stage, winning many prizes, including a Tony for her performance in Amy’s View in 1999 and several Oliviers.
She still proudly owns the record she set four years ago as the oldest woman to grace the cover of British Vogue, which has a 104-year history.
The star has revealed she has severe retinal degeneration. She said she has coped because she had a photographic memory, and her pals assisted her in memorizing lines.
She says she still wants to work ‘as much as she can’ despite this debilitation. She told me you must learn to accept it and “get on.”
Dench said it’s more challenging for her if she has a lengthy role, but she knows many people willing to “tutor her on the script.”
Judi’s vision had deteriorated for a while before she was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2012.
It’s not the first time the actress has spoken publicly about her illness. She went on BBC’s Louis Theroux last year and said, “It’s bad.”
She said due to her current visual impairment, she is unable to do anything. In other words, “it’s terrible.”
Judi also said her boyfriend, David Mills, had to chop up her meal at a restaurant because she couldn’t see it.
She said he chopped it up and handed something to her on a fork, and that’s how she ate it.
Dame Judi is 88 years old.
