{"id":322361,"date":"2025-11-30T12:59:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/322361\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T12:59:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T12:59:03","slug":"judi-dench-details-worsening-eyesight-due-to-macular-degeneration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/322361\/","title":{"rendered":"Judi Dench Details Worsening Eyesight Due To Macular Degeneration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAcademy and Tony Award-winning actress Judi Dench<\/a> detailed the realities of her eye condition, which has led to a loss of sight and her stepping back from the stage and screen.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNo, you don\u2019t [see me on camera], because I can\u2019t see anymore,\u201d she told an ITV News reporter in a recent joint interview<\/a> with longtime collaborator and friend Ian McKellen, with whom she starred in Macbeth in 1979.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen McKellen joked that they could see her, the veteran star responded, \u201cYes, and I can see your outline and I know you so well, in your Macbeth scarf. But I can\u2019t recognize anybody now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Notes on a Scandal star continued, \u201cI can\u2019t see the television, I can\u2019t see to read.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe X-Men alum then jokingly asked Dench if she ever goes up to \u201ctotal strangers [to] say, \u2018Lovely to see you again,’\u201d to which she laughed and answered, \u201cSometimes!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDench, who has led a storied career from her memorable appearance in Shakespeare in Love to her formidable portrayal as M in Daniel Craig\u2019s run as James Bond, has been open about her diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, a degenerative eye condition that affects the central part of the retina and results in central vision distortion or loss, since 2012.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe hinted at her retirement last year<\/a>, and the year prior, said<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s difficult for me if I have any length of a part. I haven\u2019t yet found a way. Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tHer most recent credits include a cameo in the 2022 Apple TV+ Christmas musical comedy\u00a0Spirited, starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. ITV noted that the Belfast star also appeared in a recent holiday-themed advert in the U.K. She and McKellen are currently backing an initiative to revitalize the William Shakespeare curriculum<\/a> taught at English schools, using rehearsals as teaching tools to invigorate understanding of the Bard.<\/p>\n