Dame Judi Dench, 89, hints that her film career could be over for good as she reveals that she ‘can’t even see’
Dame Judi Dench has cast doubt on the future of her film career.
The Oscar-winning actress, 89, has not appeared on the big screen since starring in 2022’s Spirited and admitted she has no future projects in the pipeline amid her battles with her ailing eyesight.
When asked if she has plans for more acting jobs, she told a journalist at the Chelsea Flower Show: “No, no, I can’t even see it!”
The mirror report that when an agent for the Philomena star was contacted about a clarification on Judi’s comments, they insisted there was nothing more to say.
Her agent said, “Judi has nothing more to add beyond what she said to the journalist.”
Dame Judi Dench has cast doubt on the future of her film career as she continues to cope with her poor eyesight
When asked if she has plans for more acting jobs, she told a journalist at the Chelsea Flower Show: “No, no, I can’t even see it!”
But by the end of 2022, Judi refused to give up and said that despite the condition, she won’t be retiring anytime soon – even though she admitted at the time that it was ‘bad’.
She told Louis Theorux on his BBC show: ‘I don’t want to retire. I’m not doing much at the moment because I can’t see. It’s bad.
“I have a photographic memory, so someone who says to me, ‘This is your line…’, I can do that.”
Around the same time, Judi revealed that while out for dinner recently with her partner David Mills, he had to cut her food for her because she couldn’t see it on her plate.
“He cut it up and gave me something on a fork, and that’s how I ate it,” she explained.
According to the NHS, ‘Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common condition that affects the middle part of your vision. It usually first affects people in their 50s and 60s.
Speaking this week, Dame Judi explained that she has been busy with off-screen projects, explaining: ‘Our book has come out (Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent), we’re going to the Cheltenham Book Fair and then we’re going I’m doing three shows with Gyles Brandreth’.
In 2022, Judi said she was determined to ‘teach’ herself a new way of learning amid her battle with her eyesight
The actress spoke candidly about her health battle with the BBC’s Louis Theroux in 2022
The acclaimed actress has been active on stage and screen since the late 1950s, but hinted it could all be over now
The star is known for her roles in films including the Bond franchise. Depicted in Skyfall with Daniel Craig
The actress shed a tear during her appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show after receiving a seedling of the famous Sycamore Gap tree.
The ancient monument, located next to Hadrian’s Wall, was cut down by vandals last year.
The veteran actress wiped her eyes as she received the seedling from seven-year-old Charlotte Crowe from Henshaw CE Primary School in Northumberland.
Of the seedling she said, “I will name it Antoninus, the adopted son of the Emperor Hadrian.”
The National Trust said Dame Judi is ‘passionate about trees’ and was ‘very concerned by the news of the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree’.
The seedling – grown from seeds from the tree felled last September – will be planted in the Octavia Hill garden during the show, in commemoration of the National Trust’s founder.
It will then join other seedlings to grow further at the Trust’s National Conservation Center in Devon.