According to Judi Dench, her vision loss has progressed to the point where she requires a guide when she leaves her home.
The veteran actress, 90, first announced in 2012 that she was suffering from macular degeneration in her eyes, which can cause permanent and rapid central vision loss, and is the number one cause of vision loss in people over 50.
Judi has now shared a heartbreaking update on her condition, admitting on the new episode of Trinny Woodall’s Fearless podcast: ‘Somebody will always be with me. I have to now because I can’t see, and I will walk into something or fall over.
‘I’m always nervous before going to something.
‘I have no idea why… I’m not good at being on my own at all, nor would I be now.
‘And fortunately, I don’t have to now because I pretend to have no eyesight.’
During a 2021 event for the London-based Vision Foundation, Judi opened up about how she struggles to read scripts due to her rapidly fading vision.
She said: ‘You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult.
‘I’ve 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’t notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!’
Judi also told The Graham Norton Show about how she battles to memorise lines, as she used to rely on her photographic memory.
She added: ‘I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page.
‘I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of Twelfth Night right now.’
It comes after Judi cast doubt over the future of her film career amid her battle with age-related macular degeneration of her eyes.
The veteran actress has not appeared on the big screen since 2022’s Allelujah, limiting her screen appearances in recent years to documentaries, where she has appeared as herself.
And in May, she admitted that she has no future projects in the pipeline while struggling with her ailing sight.
Asked if she has any plans for more acting jobs, Judi told a journalist at the Chelsea Flower show: ‘No, no, I can’t even see!’
But towards the end of 2022, she had refused to give up and insisted she wouldn’t be retiring anytime soon, despite admitting the condition was ‘bad’ even then.
She told Louis Theroux on his BBC show: ‘I don’t want to retire. I’m not doing much at the moment because I can’t see. It’s bad.
‘I have a photographic memory, so a person saying to me, ”This is your line…” I can do that.’
Around the same time, Judi revealed that while out for dinner with her partner, David Mills, he had to cut up her food for her as she couldn’t see it on her plate.
‘He cut it up and handed something to me on a fork, and that’s the way I ate it,’ she explained.
Sadly, old age really is a massacre, but at 90 years old, apart from failing eyesight, she looks absolutely fabulous and sounds fantastic, and still has all her faculties. Sadly, there will be no stage or film work, but I do love her interviews because they’re mesmerising to watch and listen to – she really is an incredible lady.
You lose your independence when you lose your vision, which can make you feel extremely vulnerable and dependent on someone else.
I honestly didn’t realise that Judy had turned 90 years old – I just envision her as this young, vibrant woman – there should have been a huge media extravaganza of her life’s work because she is one of the most amazing working Dames still alive, but somehow I don’t believe she would have wanted that much media attention.
Even her more sombre performances were captivating; she is fascinating, hilarious, and always makes me laugh.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 