Judi Dench Opened Up About A Rare Health Condition That’s Completely Changing Her Life

Dench’s career did not actually start off with Hollywood stardom in mind – she didn’t even envision herself on the stage! In a 2020 chat with actor David Tennant on his eponymous podcast, the seasoned actress said that she “trained as a theater designer” before deciding on her career in the spotlight.

Even then, Dench said, her dreams revolved around acting on stage – not on screen. She said, “I only ever wanted to do Shakespeare and be in the theater... There’s no substitute for theater.” And soon after graduating from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Dench made her visions into a reality by landing a huge part right off the bat.

Dench nabbed the part of Ophelia in the Old Vic Company’s rendition of Hamlet – a huge get for an ingenue like her. Ophelia was and is one of the most iconic female characters in Shakespeare’s cannon. Dench said that she “got off to a cracking start,” but the press didn’t quite agree. They apparently chided the National Theatre for casting “somebody who is just out of drama school.”

As a then-22-year-old fledgling actress, Dench understandably took the reviews to heart. So, she cut off her long locks into the short hairstyle we still know today. And Dench also kept acting – albeit in smaller on-stage roles. Those in the star’s circle could see her potential, so she started to believe in it, too.

Within the next two decades, Dench became a massive star on the British stage. In 1977 – 20 years after her debut in Hamlet – she earned her first of eight Laurence Olivier Awards, which are doled out to the best actors from London’s West End every year. And Dench won it for yet another iconic Shakespearean role. This time, it was Lady Macbeth in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Macbeth.

Despite major successes on stage, Dench didn’t have an easy time making the leap into movies – but that difficulty had little to do with her health. The actress had starred in several British television programs and small-screen theatrical productions. And yet, when Dench started auditioning for films in the 1960s, she got some harsh feedback from casting directors.

Dench spoke to BBC Radio’s Front Row and revealed that, after a big film audition in the 1960s, an unidentified famous director told her she had “the wrong face” for Hollywood. The star recalled, “He said, ‘Thank you very much, I don’t think you should consider films.’”

The critique hadn’t fazed Dench much, because she saw herself as a theatrical actor – not a film star. But the joke would eventually be on that director who said she’d never make it in Hollywood. It would take a few decades after that audition, but she did eventually break out onto the big screen.

Nearly 40 years after her on-stage debut, Dench landed her breakout Hollywood role in 1995’s GoldenEye. But she was still at the top of her game artistically and health-wise. In the James Bond film she played M, who helmed the Secret Intelligence Service – also known as MI6. The series’ titular character is, of course, a spy working for the department under M’s wing.

Dench went on to play M in eight James Bond films and explained in her BBC Radio interview that she “loved it” all. Rumors swirled that, when her character’s death came in 2015’s Spectre, the actress cried over the news. Though Dench set the record straight, saying, “It's not true. No, I thought I’d had a good innings!”

And it wasn’t like Dench was wanting for work, either. Ever since her first film as M, she had a steady stream of Hollywood jobs. Two years after GoldenEye’s release the actress landed her first-ever starring role in a film: Mrs. Brown.

The movie was meant for TV, but once film execs saw the final product, they knew that it should be shown in cinemas instead. So, Mrs. Brown hit theaters and marked a surprise commercial and critical success for Dench, who played Queen Victoria in the film.

Dench’s next regal role then brought even more accolades for the star. In 1998’s Shakespeare in Love, she played Queen Elizabeth I. Interestingly, it was a supporting part with very little screen time – but her performance had a huge impact. The New York Times raved that Dench’s turn as the former monarch was “one of the film’s utmost treats.”

It wasn’t just the press who lauded Dench’s performance, either. The next year also saw her earning nominations for a slew of high-profile acting awards. And she brought home a few of them, too! Namely, Dench won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and, when accepting the award, she pointed out just how little screen time it took to win the statue. Dench said, “I feel for eight minutes on the screen, I should only get a little bit of him.”

With these illustrious highlights in mind, it’s hard to believe that Dench has had a silent struggle throughout much of the latter part of her career. In 2012 she finally found out the reason why she had noticed her eyesight starting to get worse.

Having clear vision is often at the crux of acting – how can one read a script without being able to see it? In Dench’s case, that wasn’t really the issue in regards to her blurring eyesight. That’s because she has always preferred to have someone else read the scripts to her. She explained that preference to The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, saying, “I suppose it’s the child in me. I think somebody coming around and telling you a story is irresistible.”

Otherwise, Dench has her scripts printed in giant text so that she can see it. She told Woman & Home in 2019, “My font is point-size 22, so you can imagine… if we’re doing a sonnet of 14 lines, all the others have one page and I’ll have 14! It’s ridiculous, it’s a farce, but I’m not going to give in.”

Obviously, Dench has made this setup work for herself. Since 2012 – the year she received her diagnosis – the actress has starred in nearly 20 films. Though Dench admits to having a few limitations. For example, she couldn’t trek to India to film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. But her loved ones – and even fellow famous faces – help her to make everything work.

Dench has said that friends including Maggie Smith have to give her a hand when getting around, whether in her daily life or on set. She told Radio Times in 2015, “These days I can't really travel on my own because I need someone to say, ‘Look out, there’s a step here!' or else I fall all over the place like a mad, drunk lady.”

And the loss in eyesight has stripped Dench of one of her favorite pastimes, too. The actress loved to go to the movies but, now, she struggles to see what’s happening on-screen. At the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Dench told journalists that “a friend of mine usually has to say, ‘He's kissing her now,’ or, ‘He’s walking away’” – narration that paints a picture of what she can’t see.

But, like we said, Dench has barely held back. She did her last-ever Bond film post-diagnosis, and she took an Oscar-nominated turn as Queen Victoria in 2017’s Victoria and Abdul. She even appeared in a LadBible video in which she taught how to rap by the British artist Lethal Bizzle!

So, what exactly was the diagnosis that Dench received in 2012? Her doctors found that the beloved actress suffered from age-related macular degeneration. It wasn’t an entirely unexpected thing to happen to the Oscar winner, though. Her mother had also lived with the same condition, which, according to the National Health Service, affects at least 600,000 people in the U.K. alone.

Age-related macular degeneration doesn’t cause any pain, but it can cloud your vision. For some, it’s relatively minor – making it hard to read or recognize faces. But others reach near or total blindness because of the condition, which most commonly appears in those aged 50 and above.

The National Health Service notes that those with age-related macular degeneration start to notice vision blurring from the center – rather than from the outsides. It can also make bright colors appear dull and straight lines seem wavy. In addition, some with the condition will see objects on a much smaller scale than they are in real life.

Again, age-related macular degeneration doesn’t cause any pain, nor will it change the appearance of one’s eyes. This is why fans haven’t noticed any changes in Dench’s icy blue peepers. You probably wouldn’t be able to pinpoint other famous faces who deal with the condition, and Dench isn’t the only one who does.

Comedienne Roseanne Barr has revealed that she has both macular degeneration and glaucoma – marked by damage to the eye’s optic nerve. As such, the one-time Roseanne star has said that she is going blind. But, like Dench, her diagnosis didn’t come out of nowhere. Barr’s father apparently also had the same eye conditions.

Not all types of macular degeneration are hereditary, but certain genes can predispose someone to developing the condition. In age-related cases, though, having a family history can predict who will see their vision blur over time. According to VisionAware, if a parent, child or sibling of yours has this type of macular degeneration, you’re three to four times more likely to receive the same diagnosis.

Luckily, though, not all age-related macular degeneration diagnoses come with total blindness at the end of them. Macular.org notes that 90 percent of patients with the condition fall into a category called “dry” AMD, in which the layers of their eye grow thinner and function less effectively. Vision aids can also assuage the symptoms in many cases.

The remaining 10 percent of age-related macular degeneration cases reportedly fall into the “wet” category. This condition sees the retina’s blood vessels weaken to the point that they leak fluids into that very small area. The liquid turns into scar tissue, which affects retinal function over time.

As with dry AMD, those with the wet variant do have therapeutic options that can slow down their sight loss. Namely, patients can visit their doctors for regular eye injections, which stop vision from getting worse in 90 percent of patients, according to the National Health Service. A light-based treatment called photodynamic therapy gets rid of the abnormal vessels that cause leakage and damage to the retina.

It’s actually unclear which type of AMD that Dench has. But in an interview with Surrey Life, the star said that she has “treatment every six weeks” for her case of macular degeneration. And, while experts know a lot about how to soothe symptoms and preserve sight for as long as possible, they’re not quite sure how Dench and others develop the condition in the first place.

There are a few known precursors to age-related macular degeneration, though. As we said, family history can predict whether or not a person will lose their vision down the line. High blood pressure, smoking and being overweight also have their links to AMD. Still, the exact root cause of the condition is unclear.

In Dench’s case, she has vowed not to let her age-related macular degeneration control or change her life. For one thing, time has been on her side as she dealt with the condition – it’s not a sudden and total blindness, after all. She told BBC Radio, “You do it gradually, so gradually you somehow find a way of learning.”

And Dench has made it clear that she doesn’t want the condition to define her time on screen, either. The acting legend admitted, “As long as it doesn’t get in the way of somebody seeing you in something and thinking, ‘I wonder how she’s managing?’ That would be appalling.”

We’d imagine that most fans have had no idea that Dench’s vision has deteriorated in the past decade or so. The actress has made a point to hide it, after all. She told The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, “I never want to make much of it, but it is difficult – very, very difficult.”

Don’t expect age-related macular degeneration – or any other reason – to slow down Dench any time soon, either. In the same interview, she scoffed at the question of when the curtain would close on her career. She said, “It’s the rudest word in my dictionary, ‘retire…’”

In fact, Dench has a long list of words she dislikes as descriptors of her. The star said, “‘Old’ is another one. I don’t allow that in my house. And being called ‘vintage.’ I don't want any of those old words.” What would the actress allow, then? The Oscar winner answered, “ I like ‘enthusiastic’ and I like the word ‘cut’ because that means you've finished the shot.”

Dench has even rejected her designation as a “national treasure” by some fans. She told The Guardian that she considered it a “terrible label” for being both “dusty” and “dreary.” Plus, she said, “It relegates me to being an 86-year-old woman. Whereas in my mind's eye I'm 6 feet and willowy and about 39.”

So, Dench will continue to grace our screens for as long as she can with a fervor that hasn’t waned with age or vision-related diagnoses. Keep your eyes peeled for her upcoming movies, including Off the Rails, scheduled for release in 2021, and Belfast, which remains in post-production as of April that year. Thankfully, there are a lot of options available for Dench and other celebrities that struggle with health conditions.

If Dench hadn’t have opened up about her condition, we probably wouldn’t have ever known something was wrong. In some cases, though, fans are the first to spot whether a celebrity has an underlying issue with their health. That was the case for Jaden Smith, anyway. The actor appeared gaunt, gray and tired. And it forced his parents to stage an intervention.

What’s more, Jaden apparently felt just as unwell as he looked. The energetic musician and movie star was gone, replaced by a boy who couldn’t sleep and wasn’t doing well. Will and Jada shared a hunch, too, that their son’s eating habits may have been the root of the problem. At the time of the intervention, you see, Jaden was following a vegan diet.

In particular, Jada worried that her son wasn’t getting enough protein. The actress feared, then, that Jaden was “wasting away,” as she put it on a September 2019 episode of her Facebook show Red Table Talk. Fortunately, though, she and Will – not to mention the young star’s fans – had noticed his problem. And, ultimately, the family brought in a doctor to advise Jaden on how best to restore his health.

Jaden should be pretty used to being scrutinized by now, though, as he was born into a life in the spotlight. Indeed, at the time of his arrival in 1998, his father, Will, had already established himself as one of Hollywood’s hottest actors. Famously, Will had starred in the beloved TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air before going on to appear in popular films such as Independence Day and Men in Black.

Hollywood has been kind to Jaden’s mom, as well. Throughout the course of her career, Jada has nabbed roles in such hits as The Nutty Professor, The Matrix and 2017’s Girls Trip. And yet despite the attention afforded to her and Will, the couple had hoped to raise their son in as normal a manner as possible.

To Will and Jada, this meant that Jaden, his younger sister, Willow, and Trey – Will’s son from another relationship – would give back to the community. As kids, then, the trio offered their time to nursing institutions and orphanages. The children also often donated items to those in need, which Jada credited to an awareness that they had an exceptional lifestyle.

Furthermore, for Jaden, that extraordinary existence extended beyond a comfortable upbringing with two movie star parents. After all, he also broke into Hollywood at a young age. It all started when a then-six-year-old Jaden joined the cast of the TV show All of Us. His parents had created the show, which had been inspired by their own circumstances.

And Jaden’s on-screen work with his folks only continued from there, as three years later, he starred alongside Will in 2006 movie The Pursuit of Happyness. Throughout the drama, the Smith family patriarch portrays Christopher Gardner – a down-on-his-luck salesperson who works tirelessly to make it as a successful stockbroker. Jaden, meanwhile, fittingly plays Gardner’s son in the movie.

Jaden earned acclaim for his role, too, in the form of an MTV Movie Award. And from there, the young star continued to go from strength to strength. In fact, he would soon branch out to films in which he would perform without one of his parents in tow.

And during the next stretch of his career, Jaden found great success. In 2010, for instance, he won a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for the sci-fi flick The Day the Earth Stood Still. That same year, he also starred in the reboot of The Karate Kid, which shot to number one in the U.S. box-office chart upon its release in 2010.

Then Jaden and Will found another project on which they could collaborate. This time, they would co-star in After Earth, with Jaden playing a hero trying to keep himself and his dad safe. Unfortunately, though, the 2013 sci-fi received an icy reception from both critics and audiences. Jaden even earned a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor.

Understandably, that experience left Jaden disillusioned with life on screen. In fact, he went on an acting hiatus in the wake of After Earth’s underperformance. Nevertheless, the press junket on which Jaden had embarked to support the film had given the public an idea of his upbringing. Yes, when talking to the media, both he and Will shared details about life in the Smith household – and some of what the father and son revealed gave fans pause.

When Will and Jaden were interviewed by Metro in 2013, for instance, the elder Smith spoke about his and Jada’s disciplinary style as parents – or lack thereof. Yes, when the interviewer asked the actor about the last time Jaden had received a punishment, Will simply replied, “We don’t do punishment.”

Instead, Will and Jada chose to give their children more responsibility and choice in the ways they lived their lives. The father of three explained, “Our concept is: as young as possible, give them as much control over their lives as possible. And the concept of punishment, our experience has been – it has a little too much of a negative quality.”

In the same interview, Jaden said that his ability to make his own decisions “works pretty well.” The then-14-year-old explained, “Other teenagers go to parties, and sometimes I be like, ‘Why am I here right now?’ And most of the time, I just leave right then and there. Some things I don’t like to do that other teenagers do.”

And yet, within a year, Jaden would want even more space than his parents had already given him. On a 2018 episode of Red Table Talk, Jada revealed that her son had asked for emancipation from her and Will at just 15 years of age. But although she also described that request as “one of the most heartbreaking moments of [her] life,” the Smith family matriarch ultimately acquiesced.

Jada explained, “Every child needs something different. Being in this lifestyle, in this world is a bubble, and he wanted out. I understood that because I didn’t have the bubble. I knew what having my freedom outside the bubble – what I gained from that. I knew the sooner I let him go, the faster he was going to come back.”

Just as Jada suspected, Jaden did actually change his mind about filing for emancipation from his parents. Even so, he remained out of the spotlight until 2016, when he returned to television in the series The Get Down. The Netflix show, which ran for two seasons, told the story of disco and hip-hop’s growth in ’70s New York.

On top of that, Jaden has made strides toward a music career. He used his middle name of Syre to title his 2017 studio album as well as a 2018 EP that he dropped via Instagram. In the summer of 2019, meanwhile, he came out with a second LP called Erys – which, neatly, is “Syre” spelled backwards.

Clearly, then, Jaden has come to walk a path all on his own – just as Will and Jada had hoped. And yet for years, the couple faced plenty of backlash for their parenting style. For instance, online commenters ripped the Smiths’ decision to let Jaden wear a skirt in a 2016 Louis Vuitton ad.

Perhaps, then, the Smiths may have just been a bit too progressive for some. In a 2019 piece for Oprah magazine, writer Michelle Darrisaw explored this possibility when considering the criticisms of Will and Jada as parents. That article even quoted an expert who suggested that the couple’s approach to raising Willow and Jaden would be much more acceptable today.

Lexi Montgomery – a brand strategist who has experience of both marketing and neuropsychology – explained to the publication, “The Smiths were ahead of their time. Willow shaved her head, and Jaden wore a dress before people were openly supporting self-expression to the degree we see in the media today. Their past actions have become trend-worthy and admirable due to the cultural climate changing and becoming more accepting. In other words: what used to be weird is now considered cool.”

Plus, this forward-thinking approach seems to have set Jaden on his own path – one that has come to include everything from acting to music-making and trying different diets on for size. In fact, Jada and Will’s eldest child even began practicing veganism. But while this decision sent some fans into a tailspin, they actually piped up to voice concerns rather than to criticize.

On a December 2019 episode of Red Table Talk, Jaden explained, “I walk in the street, and people are like, ‘Oh my god! Are you sick? Can I pick you up? Could I get you some water?’ Come up to me like, ‘You can have my food, man.’” And as it turned out, the Karate Kid star’s fans weren’t the only ones to hear alarm bells ringing; Will and Jada worried about him, too.

In fact, the couple had expressed their fears about Jaden’s vegan diet on a September episode of Red Table Talk. There, Will and Jada admitted to feeling “really nervous” about their musician son, and that anxiety had in turn led the two to stage an intervention. Jada explained, “We realized [Jaden] wasn’t getting enough protein.”

Like Jaden’s fans, Will and Jada had noted that their son didn’t look as healthy as he usually did. His mom described, “He was wasting away. He just looked drained. He was just depleted, [and] he wasn’t getting the nutrients.” His skin had also seemed to take on a grayish hue, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

When confronted by his parents, though, Jaden told Will and Jada that he hadn’t just stopped eating meat. In fact, he had cut way back on food in general. He explained, “I was just eating, like, two meals a day… maybe one. Maybe just one big meal, and I’m like, ‘Oh, you know, I didn’t get around to it.’”

And as it turned out, Jaden wasn’t the only Smith with an unhealthy eating pattern. Patriarch Will called an emergency meeting for the entire family – including his oldest son, Trey, and mother-in-law Adrienne Banfield-Jones. During that gathering, moreover, Jada conceded that she too ate infrequently – just as Jaden said he did.

At the same time, Will shared the details of his own problem – and it was quite the opposite of the issue impacting his son and wife. The Fresh Prince star claimed, you see, that he found himself over-eating when he was bored. And it turned out that the habit had become particularly bad after he’d gone on a recent vacation. Will even claimed that he feasted “like an addict” sometimes.

So, a December 2019 episode of Red Table Talk had the Smiths dealing with these and other issues head-on. And for this health-centric installment of the show, the clan brought in both Dr. Mark Hyman and nutritionist Mona Sharma. The A-listers hoped that the medical professionals could help assuage their lingering problems – including their diet-related ones.

To begin with, though, Jaden was hesitant to have any medical test results presented in front of a camera. This is referenced at the start of the Red Table Talk episode, when Will asks Jaden why he doesn’t want to participate in the process. In response, his son mentions the episode of the show in which he revealed his veganism, alluding to the unwanted press that his announcement had created.

In the end, however, Jaden took part in both the health check-up and the on-screen results reveal. Yes, he and the rest of the Smith family underwent what Jada called “extensive medical testing.” Dr. Hyman and Sharma had the clan collect and send saliva and stool samples, while their blood was also subject to analysis.

In Jaden’s case, he had dealt with severe stomach issues that he thought may have been related to his veganism. The medical tests ultimately revealed, though, that the After Earth star had vitamin and omega-3 deficiencies. Gluten and dairy sensitivities had apparently further exacerbated his digestive problems.

Yet according to Dr. Hyman, Jaden didn’t necessarily have to loosen his dietary guidelines; instead, he could simply increase his vitamin intake. The medical professional explained to the musician, “When you fix your stomach, your diet expands [and] you take a few supplements, everything’s back to normal. You’re gonna rock the world.”

Nevertheless, Jaden had previously said that he had changed his diet to become a vegetarian instead. On the September episode of Red Table Talk, he had revealed, “I’ve tried to eat vegan meals. I’ll go vegan for a week or so, but for the past year I’ve been vegetarian.”

Jaden hasn’t completely severed his ties to veganism, either. In the summer of 2019, for instance, he announced that he’d started his own food business called I Love You. According to its Instagram page, I Love You is “a pop-up food truck making vegan food accessible for low-income communities.” The truck has continued to serve patrons into 2020.

Jaden hasn’t completely severed his ties to veganism, either. In the summer of 2019, for instance, he announced that he’d started his own food business called I Love You. According to its Instagram page, I Love You is “a pop-up food truck making vegan food accessible for low-income communities.” The truck has continued to serve patrons into 2020.

And that’s just one of several ways in which the Smith family has helped promote good health. Will carried on this work, too, when in December 2019 he shared a video of a colonoscopy procedure he had undergone. During this check-up, moreover, doctors pinpointed a polyp that could ultimately have progressed into colon cancer.

In the clip, Smith also says, “There’s a certain amount of commitment and embarrassment involved with being healthy. Just gotta do it, man. It’s important to me to be able to share this with people, so, you know, other people can become compliant patients to stay healthy and happy to have all the glorious years we can possibly have.”

And there’s undoubtedly more good advice to come from the Smiths, as Facebook has extended the contract for Red Table Talk until at least 2022. Perhaps, then, future episodes will cover more of Jaden’s journey to good health.