Acclaimed actress Dame Judi Dench revealed in an interview with the Daily Mirror that she has been diagnosed with macular degeneration, a condition that causes blindness.
As reported by Associated Press on Saturday, the 77 year-old said she is currently having trouble reading scripts and has been having friends and family assist her in keeping up with her lines.
She said, “It’s usually my daughter or my agent or a friend and actually I like that, because I sit there and imagine the story in my mind. The most distressing thing is in a restaurant in the evening I can’t see the person I’m having dinner with.”
But as E! Online writes today, Dench came out to squelch the doom and gloom of her condition: “In response to the numerous articles in the media concerning my eye condition–macular degeneration–I do not wish for this to be overblown. 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.”
Dench is a respected figure in both Hollywood and the theater world, having earned five Oscar nominations and numerous accolades from London critics.
