EXCLUSIVE: Dame Judi Dench's Darkest Days — Behind Closed Doors of 91-Year-Old Acting Icon's 'Bleaker Than Bleak' Blindness Battle
Dame Judi Dench has been facing her darkest days as a 'bleaker than bleak' blindness battle deepens.
Jan. 9 2026, Published 6:00 a.m. ET
Screen legend Judi Dench is now almost completely blind, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The 91-year-old Notes on a Scandal star couldn't even recognize her old friend Sir Ian McKellen, her costar in a 1979 production of Macbeth, when the two did a recent joint interview on U.K. TV.
Losing Sight, Keeping Humor
Sir Ian McKellen revealed Dame Judi Dench could not recognize him during a recent U.K. interview, as her vision loss has worsened.
"No, you don't [see me on camera], because I can't see anymore," she told the reporter.
When McKellen, 86, quipped they could still see her, the veteran star responded, "Yes, and I can see your outline, and I know you so well in your Macbeth scarf. But I can't recognize anybody now.
"I can't see the television, I can't see to read," she added.
The X-Men star then jokingly asked Dench if she ever goes up to "total strangers [to] say, 'Lovely to see you again'"?
"Sometimes," said Dench, who played spymaster M in eight James Bond films.
In 2012, she was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, which affects the retina and causes a loss of central vision, so objects that are straight ahead appear blurry or distorted.
Hinting at Acting Retirement
Diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in 2012, Dench said she can no longer read or watch television.
The Oscar, Tony and Golden Globe award winner hasn't appeared in a movie since a cameo in the 2022 Christmas musical comedy Spirited, costarring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, though she also appeared in a holiday ad that ran in the U.K.
Over the past couple of years, she's been hinting at retiring, explaining, "It's difficult for me if I have any length of a part. I haven't yet found a way [to read].
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Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell were among Dench's last film collaborators in her 2022 cameo appearance in 'Spirited.'
"Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory."
However, she's still toiling in theater, in a new capacity – she and McKellen are working on a program to revitalize the Shakespeare curriculum in English schools, including using performances of his plays to teach students about the Bard.
