Dame Judi Dench has revealed she can no longer see details of people's faces due to her eye condition, telling close friend Sir Ian McKellen she "daren't look at the future" because her eyesight is "so bad".
The 91-year-old actress made the admission during an emotional episode of her documentary series, Tea with Judi Dench, in which the two actors discussed stage fright, their biggest achievements, and Sir Ian's experience of coming out as gay.
"I can't see any details of your face"
When Sir Ian asked his friend whether she lives in the present or the past, she replied: "I live in the present because I daren't look at the future, because my eyesight now is so bad, it's so bad."
Revealing the scale of her sight loss, she added: "I can't see any details of your face."
"Oh, darling," Sir Ian replied sympathetically. "If you want to feel my face, it's there," he said, taking her hand and guiding it to his face before kissing it sweetly.
Dame Judi was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2012. AMD is an eye disease that affects a person's central vision and limits their ability to see things in front of them.
Previous conversations about her condition
This is not the first time Dame Judi has spoken to Sir Ian about her condition. In December 2025, the pair reunited for the 50th anniversary of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1976–77 staging of Macbeth.
During a joint interview on ITV News, she said that although she could recognise him, "I can't recognise anybody now.…I can't see the television, [and I] can't see to read".
Sir Ian joked with his friend, asking: "Do you go up to total strangers and say, 'Lovely to see you again?'" She replied: "Yes, sometimes."
Sir Ian reflects on coming out
During the episode, the conversation turned to Sir Ian reflecting on coming out as gay and how he wished he had told his parents sooner. He explained that he had found letters written by his dad, including one he had received on his 21st birthday.
"I was at university, not living at home anymore," he explained to Dame Judi. "He was only saying he loved me and I had done well and he would always be looking out for me, I think. Of course, looking back now, I knew I was gay at 21, it was the biggest thing in my life, really, the discovery and acceptance of that."
"And one of the first [people] I should have talked to about it would have been dad, but I didn't. He was sending me this letter full of love, and I wonder, looking back, was he saying 'Is there anything you want to talk to me about?' I wonder?"
Sir Ian was in his late 40s when he first came out to his sister, Jean. He recalled her first reaction: "Oh, Ian, I have known that for ages, and I have never wanted to talk to you about it because I thought you didn't want to."
"What a waste of time, and my dad was long since dead, and my mother before that. I have few regrets in my life, but that's one of them, that I didn't talk," he confessed.
Sir Ian publicly came out as gay during a live radio debate discussing Section 28, a controversial piece of legislation proposed by Margaret Thatcher's government that sought to ban local authorities "intentionally promoting homosexuality or publishing material with the intention of promoting homosexuality".
Tea with Judi Dench is streaming on Sky Arts, Freeview, and streaming service NOW.
