Dame Joanna Lumley has said she “wouldn’t mind” an assisted death if she were in a “miserable” state.
The 79-year-old Ab Fab star is in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which was approved by the House of Commons last month and would allow mentally competent adults in England and Wales with a life expectancy of six months or less to apply for an assisted death.
Speaking to Saga, Lumley said: “People are terribly anxious about it and think one may be coerced (into voluntary euthanasia).
“But I’m saying this now when nobody’s coercing me, don’t let me turn into somebody who doesn’t recognise the people I love most, where I’m having a miserable time.”
She explained: “When I get to the stage where I can’t speak and have to be fed, that won’t be me any more and that’s when I wouldn’t mind saying farewell.”
Following an emotional debate in June, MPs passed Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill by 314 to 291 votes – a majority of just 23 – to legalise the procedure for people with terminal illnesses.
The legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales who have fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel including a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist.
The bill will now go to the House of Lords for further scrutiny, where it is set to face more opposition.
Among the MPs who backed the bill were Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his predecessor Rishi Sunak. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, meanwhile, voted against.
Supporters of the bill hailed the historic vote and expressed their relief that assisted dying is now likely to become available by the next election.
In an interview with ITV News, TV personality Dame Esther Rantzen, a celebrity backer of the bill who has stage-four lung cancer, said: “It’s really important it becomes law so dying people in the future will have confidence knowing they can ask for a quick, pain-free death.
“It won’t come in my lifetime, I won’t live long enough, but I am so relieved it will help future generations to look forward to a good death. I am astonished [that] I have lived to see the moment.”
