Dame Judi Dench, 90, reveals she 'can't leave her house alone' due to sight loss
22 January 2025, 12:00
Dame Judi Dench, 90, can't leave the house alone due to her deteriorating eyesight.
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The veteran actor opened up about her vision loss, revealing that she battles macular degeneration.
She said, on Tinny Woodall's Fearless Podcast, that she can no longer leave her house alone, and the disease has had a profound impact on her daily life.
Dame Dench said: “Somebody will always be with me,
“I have to now because I can’t see and I will walk into something or fall over.”
The star explained how her limited eyesight has led to intense nervousness before attending events.
She said: “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.”
Pleased she no longer has to hide her condition, she added: "And fortunately, I don’t have to now because I pretend to have no eyesight.”
Macular degeneration is a common medical condition that affects the centre of your vision, often affecting people in their 50s and 60s.
It makes daily life, like reading and recognising faces, difficult.
In 2023, Dame Dench confessed how much her condition has affected her work.
She said: “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 added, to the 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.”
