Judi Dench, 91, says the vision loss she’s lived with since her 2012 macular degeneration diagnosis now prevents her from reading or working on stage and screen.
“I can’t be on stage. I can’t do a play any more. I can’t do a film any more. I can’t read any more,” she said. She also said she often struggles to recognize people.
Dench said she doesn’t dwell much on ageing. Her love of Shakespeare’s sonnets remains: the actress, who won the supporting actress Oscar for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love, described herself as “besotted” by them.
“It’s the rhythm of it. It’s the rhythm of your heart. It’s the way he’s summed up so simply the way that any of us feel about, well, anything,” she said.