{"id":312362,"date":"2025-11-27T14:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312362\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T14:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:40:13","slug":"i-dont-recognise-anyone-oscar-winner-judi-dench-90-shares-devastating-update-amid-rapidly-progressing-health-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312362\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I don\u2019t recognise anyone\u2019: Oscar winner Judi Dench, 90, shares devastating update amid rapidly progressing health condition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dame Judi Dench shared a heartbreaking update about the extent of her degenerative eye condition, revealing that she can no longer recognise her family and friends.<\/p>\n

The James Bond star, 90, was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2012, and shared that her sight has deteriorated so much that she can no longer see her loved ones, read scripts, or watch television.<\/p>\n

AMD is the number one cause of permanent sight loss in people over 50, and there is currently no treatment available.<\/p>\n

Appearing in a new interview this week alongside her close friend and colleague, Sir Ian McKellen, Dench was asked why she hasn\u2019t been seen on camera for several years.<\/p>\n

The Oscar-winning actress candidly told ITV News: \u201cIt\u2019s because I can\u2019t see anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKellen interjected: \u201cBut we can see you,\u201d to which Dench replied: \u201cYes, and I can see your outline, and I know you so well, but I can\u2019t recognise anybody now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think, \u2018Oh, get her, she\u2019s got very grand,\u2019 but it\u2019s because I can\u2019t see. I can\u2019t see the television, I can\u2019t see to read.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKellen laughed: \u201cBut don\u2019t you go up to strangers and say to them, ‘Lovely to see you again,'” to which Dench exclaimed: “Yes, sometimes!”<\/p>\n

Dench has not appeared on the big screen since making a cameo in the 2022 movie, Spirited, which starred Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.<\/p>\n

That same year, she also starred in the comedy drama, Allelujah, alongside Jennifer Saunders, David Bradley, and Derek Jacobi.<\/p>\n

Last year, Dench confirmed that she has no plans for future acting projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Chelsea Flower Show in May 2024, the actress said she had tried to work \u201cas much as\u201d she could, but had begun to find any role \u201cdifficult\u201d to play.<\/p>\n

She told journalists at the event: \u201cI have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory, so I have to know where it is on the page, and that\u2019s quite a difficult thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what makes it really impossible so far. But I\u2019ll find a way,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In January, the acclaimed actress revealed that she can no longer leave the house on her own and requires daily assistance to stop her from falling over or bumping into things.<\/p>\n

She also heartbreakingly admitted that she is \u201cnervous\u201d about being on her own.<\/p>\n

Speaking to presenter Trinny Woodall on her Fearless podcast, the Philomena star said: \u201cSomebody will always be with me; I have to now because I can\u2019t see and I will walk into something or fall over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always nervous before going to something. I have no idea why…I\u2019m not good at being on my own at all, nor would I be now.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Judi hasn\u2019t had any big-screen roles in a while, she recently filmed a Christmas advert with her friend and Cranford co-star Imelda Staunton for ShelterBox, the disaster relief charity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dame Judi Dench shared a heartbreaking update about the extent of her degenerative eye condition, revealing that she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[111449,13267,64,63,40674,447,176895,134,176897,59308,88060,176896],"class_list":["post-312362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-age-related-macular-degeneration","tag-amd","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blindness","tag-celebrities","tag-dame-judi-dench","tag-entertainment","tag-eyesight","tag-ian-mckellen","tag-judi-dench","tag-sight-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}