Judi Dench is opening up about her harrowing eye condition.<\/p>\n
The English actress, who is about to turn 91 on December 9, is detailing life with advanced macular degeneration<\/p>\n
Dench appeared on ITV<\/a>\u00a0on Nov. 25, alongside longtime friend Ian McKellen and said she \u201ccan\u2019t see anymore.\u201d <\/p>\n Judi Dench on ITV News on Nov. 25, 2025. ITV News\/YouTube<\/p>\n The \u201cGoldenEye\u201d actress, who was\u00a0diagnosed with the disease<\/a>\u00a0in 2012, confessed that she can\u2019t read or watch television.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t [see me on camera anymore] because I can\u2019t see,\u201d explained Dench. \u201cI\u2019ve got, you know, that thing.\u201d<\/p>\n McKellen, 86, who starred opposite the Hollywood vet in\u00a01979\u2019s \u201cMacbeth,\u201d teased that people could still see her.<\/p>\n Judi Dench and Ian McKellen on ITV. ITV News\/YouTube<\/p>\n \u201cYes, and I can see your outline and I know you so well,\u201d Dench responded. \u201cBut I can\u2019t recognize anybody anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n McKellen asked the actress if she ever approaches \u201ctotal strangers and say, \u2018Lovely to see you again,’\u201d which got a laugh out of Dench.<\/p>\n She cheekily replied: \u201cSometimes!\u201d <\/p>\n Judi Dench gives an update on her eye condition. ITV News\/YouTube<\/p>\n In January, Dench got candid on the difficult eye condition<\/a>, explaining she can\u2019t go out alone anymore. <\/p>\n \u201cSomebody will always be with me. I have to now because I can\u2019t see and I will walk into something or fall over,\u201d she shared while on British entrepreneur Trinny Woodall\u2019s\u00a0\u201cFearless\u201d podcast<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n Dench admitted that she\u2019s \u201calways nervous before going to something.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not good at being on my own at all, nor would I be now. And fortunately, I don\u2019t have to now because I pretend to have no eyesight,\u201d she added with a laugh. <\/p>\n Dame Judi Dench poses backstage on November 17, 2024. Alan Chapman\/Dave Benett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n AMD is a common condition and stands as the leading cause of permanent and rapid loss of vision in older adults, per the\u00a0National Institutes of Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dench has previously touched on how the eye condition has affected her 60-year acting career<\/a>.<\/p>\n When asked at an event in May 2024 if she had any upcoming projects in the works, Dench responded, \u201cNo, no. I can\u2019t even see.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n Judi Dench wins the Oscar for her part in the movie \u201cShakespeare in Love\u201d during the 71st Academy Awards on March 21 1999. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n Dame Judi Dench attends the launch of the 200th Burlington Christmas at Burlington Arcade on November 12, 2019. Dave Benett\/Getty Images for Burlington Arcade<\/p>\n In 2023, Dench revealed while on \u201cThe Graham Norton Show\u201d\u00a0that she was\u00a0finding it harder and harder to read scripts\u00a0<\/a>and learn her lines.<\/p>\n The Oscar winner added: \u201cIt has become impossible and, because I have a photographic memory, I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021,\u00a0Dench told Vision Foundation<\/a> that she asks her friends to help her with lines by reading them aloud.<\/p>\n Judi Dench on July 18, 1960. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cYou find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult,\u201d the actress explained at the time. \u201cI\u2019ve 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\u2019t notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!\u201d<\/p>\n Dench last starred in the 2022 British drama \u201cAllelujah\u201d and made a cameo in Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell\u2019s Christmas comedy\u00a0\u201cSpirited\u201d<\/a> that same year. <\/p>\n Judi Dench acting as \u2018Titania\u2019 in the Shakespeare play \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n On her IMDb page, Dench is listed as the voice of Titania in the upcoming short \u201cForgeries of Jealousy.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t