Judi Dench is opening up about living with a degenerative eyesight condition, saying that although she is reluctant to retire, she has not been able to do much because she "can't see."
The esteemed actor suffers from AMD (age-related macular degeneration), a condition that affects the vision and usually occurs in those in their 50s and 60s, the Independent reported, noting that although it does not cause total blindness, AMD can lead to difficulty in reading and recognizing faces.
During an interview that will feature on a forthcoming episode of "Louis Theroux Interviews," Dench, 87, said the condition had affected her quite badly. The topic came about while discussing the star's retirement plans.
"I don't want to retire. I'm not doing anything much at the moment because I can't see," she said, according to the Independent.
When asked how bad the condition was, Dench replied: "Bad. Bad enough. Bad enough in that you're quite fuzzy. You're just a tad fuzzy."
Dench went on to describe an incident during which she attended a dinner at an event that was "so dark" that a friend had to cut up her food and pass it to her on a fork.
The condition has also impacted her professional life. Dench is still able to be on stage provided there aren't "things to fall over," but she does struggle with remembering lines without reading them.
"I've got to teach myself a new way of learning," she said. "I've realized that I need to know where it is on the page. I'll teach myself a way. I know I will, as long as I don't trip over doing it."
The Oscar winner also spoke about she memorizes scripts during a 2021 conversation benefiting the Vision Foundation, a sight loss charity based in London.
"You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult," Dench said, according to The Guardian. "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!"
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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