Judi Dench Offers an Update on Her Eyesight

Judi Dench has been open about her vision struggles, admitting in 2023 that she could no longer see on a film set due to her macular degeneration. The 90-year-old Oscar-winning actor, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2012, now says she can't go outside alone anymore because her eyesight is so bad, per People. "Somebody will always be with me ... because I can't see and I will walk into something or fall over," she said during Trinny Woodall's Fearless podcast last week.

A few years back, Dench said she'd had to start memorizing her lines at work because she could no longer read her scripts, and two years ago, she lamented that even that work-around was becoming challenging. It would be understandable if Dench were distressed about her deteriorating eyesight, but she's putting up a brave face, at least publicly. "I'm always nervous before going to something ... I have no idea [why]," she said on the podcast. "I'm not good at that at all ... nor would I be now." She then joked: "Fortunately, I don't have to be now, because I pretend to have no eyesight." (More Judi Dench stories.)