Judi Dench opens up on health ahead of 91st birthday

Dame Judi Dench spoke candidly about the challenges of aging and her deteriorating eyesight.

The Skyfall alum shared emotional details during her wide-ranging interview with the Radio Times before her 91st birthday Tuesday.

The Oscar-winning actress revealed that her battle with Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) has now left her unable to watch television or read scripts unaided.

She relies on assistants and colleagues to read lines aloud.

Dench memorizes the lines using her photographic memory.

Her eyes are in the progressed ‘wet’ stage of AMD which makes them beyond treatment.

“It's a crusher”, said Dench.

“I miss seeing Clive Myrie doing Mastermind, but I can hear the questions," Dench answered when asked about what she missed.

The 90-year-old is also incapable of continuing other past activities too like embroidery, driving or even going out alone.

Despite this, she continues to work as she is determined not to let her condition silence her career.

Another hurdle in her life is short-term memory loss.

She joked that while she can recite Shakespeare’s soliloquies, she often forgets what she is meant to do tomorrow.

Dench confessed to fearing that she will ‘lose the plot’.