Dame Judi Dench Shares Heartbreaking Health Update With Her Fans

If you are a fan of Dame Judi Dench, the legendary actor has some sad news for you. The 90-year-old icon announced that she is retiring from her acting career. Judi also shared a health update that led to the decision to stop acting.

The Shakespeare In Love star made the announcement on ITV News on Nov. 24, 2025, during an interview with Sir Ian McKellen, 50 years after they starred in Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Company. So, what is the matter with her health?

Dame Judi Dench revealed that she is retiring because she has age-related macular degeneration. Judi was diagnosed back in 2012, and macular degeneration causes loss of central vision and is the leading cause of blindness for people over 50.

The actor revealed that she can no longer perform daily tasks and can not recognize her friends.

She explained that she hasn't been on camera in some time. "No, because I can’t see anymore."

Ian, who is 86, replied, "We can see you."

"Yes, and I can see your outline, and I know you so well with your Macbeth scarf," replied Judi. "But I can’t recognize anyone."

Dame Judi also said that people sometimes mistake her sight issues for her being rude.

"People think ‘oh get her she’s got very grand,' but it’s because I can’t see," she said. "I can’t see the television, can’t see to read."

During an event for the Vision Foundation in 2021, she said she's had to find different ways to do certain things, such as learning her lines.

"You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult,” she said. "I’ve had to find another way of learning lines and things, which is having great friends of mine repeat them to me over and over and over again. So I have to learn through repetition, and I just hope that people won’t notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!”

Judi is an accomplished actor who has received several awards throughout her career, including an Oscar, a Tony Award, and two Golden Globes, per the BBC.

On the podcast Fearless with Trinny Woodall, Judi said she has to be escorted everywhere to keep her from falling.

"Somebody will always be with me," she said. "I have to now because I can’t see, and I will walk into something or fall over. I’m always nervous before going to something. I have no idea why. I’m not good at that at all. Not at all. Nor would I be now. And fortunately, I don’t have to be now because I pretend to have no eyesight."

Ahead of her 90th birthday, she told the outlet that she was "going to think about 29" instead.

"It's just that you get a bit nervous when everybody says 90," she said. "I don't want to think of 90 much, I'm going to think about [turning] 29."

Judi has starred in numerous films, plays, and TV programs, including Notes on a Scandal, Murder on the Orient Express, Red Joan, Cranford, A Room With a View, Mrs. Brown, Skyfall, and Iris, just to name a few.