Judi Dench shares update on eye condition, says she ‘can’t do a film anymore’

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Dame Judi Dench introduces a screening of ‘Iris’ at BFI Southbank on December 08, 2024 in London, England. (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for BFI)

Veteran actress Dame Judi Dench says she can’t act anymore due to her worsening eye condition.

“I can’t be on stage, I can’t do a play anymore, I can’t do a film anymore. I can’t read anymore,” she told the BBC in an interview on Thursday. “So you’ve got to adjust to all that and make allowances for it and just get on. And don’t think about it too much.”

The actress, who is known for Shakespeare in Love, Skyfall and more, said in 2012 that she was losing her sight to macular degeneration.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness. It destroys the sharp, central vision needed to see clearly.

Dench said that, for her, macular degeneration has also made it hard to make out faces.

“I go up to lots of the wrong people and say, ‘Hello!’ and give them a hug and I say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,'” she said.

When asked about aging in the interview, Dench called it “rubbish.”

“There’s nothing to say for it at all,” she said. “Nothing at all. Don’t think about it too much.”

Dench added, “And if you can’t see as well, which I can’t, it’s a whole other ball game.”

Earlier this year, Dench lent her voice in the film The Magic Faraway Tree, which starred Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy. The actress provided the voice of a technologically advanced, data-spying smart refrigerator.