Dame Judi Dench has admitted she fears she may one day “lose the plot” as her eyesight and short-term memory continue to deteriorate.
Speaking with striking honesty ahead of her 91st birthday on Tuesday, the legendary actress opened up about her worsening health and her former relationship with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in a wide-ranging interview with Radio Times.
Judi revealed she can no longer see the television and now relies heavily on her assistants to manage everyday tasks.
The screen icon was diagnosed with Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) in 2012 — a condition that can cause rapid and irreversible central vision loss, and the leading cause of sight loss in people over 50.
“It’s a crusher,” Judi admitted, revealing both of her eyes are now in the advanced ‘wet’ stage of the disease and beyond medical treatment.
“I miss seeing Clive Myrie on Mastermind, but at least I can still hear the questions,” she added poignantly.
The condition has forced Dame Judi to give up driving, embroidery, and even going out alone. Yet despite these setbacks, she continues to work — having friends and colleagues read her scripts aloud so she can commit them to memory using what she describes as her still-strong photographic recall.
Remarkably, while she can still recite long passages of Shakespeare with ease, she confessed: “I can’t remember what I’m doing tomorrow, I swear to you.”
When asked whether she fears she might one day “lose the plot,” she replied candidly: “Oh yes.”
During the interview, Dame Judi even asked the journalist to check details with her assistants — who confirmed they now help manage much of her daily life.
Elsewhere, the actress reflected on her friendships in Hollywood, including her continued contact with Kevin Spacey, who was cleared of sexual assault charges involving four men in a UK court in 2023.
“Kevin has been exonerated. I hear from Kevin — we still text,” she said.
The pair previously worked together on The Shipping News, and Judi has long defended Spacey as a “good friend,” even during the height of public allegations against him.
Recalling the period after the death of her husband Michael Williams in 2001, she said:
“I went to do The Shipping News with Kevin Spacey. Kevin was an inestimable comfort. He never mentioned knowing I was in a bad place — he just cheered me up and kept me going.”
However, Dame Judi’s most controversial remarks came as she reflected on her past work with Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein produced Judi’s first major Hollywood film, Shakespeare In Love, which earned her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1998 — despite her total screen time being just eight minutes.
The producer was later convicted of multiple sex crimes in both New York and California. His New York conviction has since been overturned after an appeals court ruled the trial was tainted by prejudicial testimony, and he now faces a retrial.
Speaking carefully, Dame Judi said:
“I knew Harvey. I worked with him closely, and I never had that experience — very fortunately for me.”
She then added:
“I imagine he’s done his time… I don’t know. Forgiveness, to me, is very personal. I just think…”
When the allegations first surfaced in 2017, Judi expressed shock and offered public sympathy to the victims.
She told Newsweek at the time:
“Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein championed my career for many years, I was completely unaware of these offences, which are, of course, horrifying. I offer my deepest sympathy to those who have suffered and my wholehearted support to those who have spoken out.”
Despite her health struggles, Dame Judi shows no intention of slowing down.
She will next appear in Channel 4’s upcoming documentary Judi Dench: Shakespeare, My Family and Me, which follows her journey through Danish archives to investigate whether her eight-times great-grandfather may have met William Shakespeare in 1606 — the year the playwright wrote three of his greatest works.
Having portrayed nearly every major female character in Shakespeare’s canon, Judi described the project as deeply emotional.
“It has been such an adventure to explore the possibility that an ancestor of mine might have come within touching distance of my hero, William Shakespeare,” she said.
“All the years I’ve spent playing his roles, with a genuine, genuine passion for his work — to go on a journey where you might be stepping closer to him… it’s beyond my wildest dreams.”
Dame Judi Dench appears on the cover of the Radio Times Christmas Issue, on sale nationwide Tuesday 9 December.
