In an interview with the Mirror this weekend, Dame Judi Dench revealed that she is going blind after being diagnosed with macular degeneration. “I can’t see your face at all now,” she told the interviewer, “but I can see your outline.” The heralded British actress is currently filming the next James Bond installment, Skyfall, although she admitted that she needs her daughter’s help to read scripts. “You get used to it,” she said. “I’ve got lenses and glasses and things and very bright light helps. I can do a crossword if it’s bright sunshine but if a cloud comes out the next minute I can’t see anything.”
(via Vulture)
God, is there anything better than the image of Dame Judi sitting at her kitchen table, by the window, doing a crossword puzzle.
She also released a statement after the article was printed stating she was not going blind and that she didn’t want the story to be blown out of proportion.
“Oscar-winning British actress Judi Dench, who has revealed she is suffering from a degenerative eye condition, played down concern over her sight on Monday, saying she was not going blind.
“In response to the numerous articles in the media concerning my eye condition – macular degeneration – I do not wish for this to be overblown,” Dench said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
“This condition is something that thousands and thousands of people all over the world are having to contend with. It’s something that I have learnt to cope with and adapt to – and it will not lead to blindness.”