Dame Judi Dench reveals she cannot leave her house unattended anymore due to worsening disease

Dame Judi Dench revealed in 2021 that she has a condition called macular degeneration (AMD), which is an age-related common eye disease.

It has progressively gotten worse for the Shakespeare in Love actress, revealing in a recent podcast that she can no longer leave the house alone.

“Somebody will always be with me.”

“I have to now because I can’t see, and I will walk into something or fall over,” she told Trinny Woodhall on the Fearless Podcast.

“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.”

In 2023, the 90-year-old British actress added that she was still determined to work as much as possible despite her significant challenges.

“I mean, I can’t see on a film set anymore. And I can’t see to read,” she told The Mirror.

“So I can’t see much, But, you know, you just deal with it. Get on.”

“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.”

Dench was diagnosed with AMD in 2012 and was later forced to give up driving as her condition worsened.

She previously said it was “ghastly” and was a big shock to be diagnosed.

“It’s the most terrible shock to the system,” she expressed.

“Ghastly. It’s terrible to be so dependent on people.”

She first started her acting career in 1957, and it continued for a further 7 decades.

Dench has a significant number of awards behind her, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, six British Academy awards, and more.

One of her recent roles included when she appeared as herself in a cameo in the 2022 Christmas movie Spirited, a musical version of a Charles Dickens story.