Dame Judi Dench has opened up on the increasing loss of her sight and hearing at 90 years old.
"I don’t feel as young, though, now that I can't see,” Judi said in a candid interview with HELLO! , before going on to detail her struggle with age-related macular degeneration (also known as AMD).
She revealed her diagnosis back in 2012, bringing AMD, which is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, into the spotlight. Now, 13 years on, she's revealed that she is now "not far away" from becoming completely blind due to the condition.
"I don’t know how far I am from not being able to see at all, but it's not far away," she said. "That's very irritating."
One of the biggest issues she's faced with her sight loss has to do with recognising her friends, she added, saying that she routinely walks past those she knows without saying 'hello' - and she's also had a few mishaps with strangers, too.
She explained, "You end up cutting a lot of people dead, then you go up to complete strangers, give them the most enormous hug and say: 'I'm so sorry I haven't seen you for so long.'"
However, she has learnt a thing or two from her acting career and is now implementing those lessons into her everyday life to cope with her sight loss. "If you're an actress, you can act that you can see," she said. "I've had to act all my life, so I can act that I can see."
Judi also revealed that she's experiencing a lot of signs of hearing loss too, though she finds it "exciting" for a hilarious reason.
"My hearing is going, too," she shared. "Goodness knows what I nod and say 'yes' to. It's quite exciting, actually."
This is the positive attitude Judi is honing as she takes on her health struggles. "My mantra is to look at the positives. It's easier to live by than to let the minuses overwhelm you," she said.
