British actress Dame Judi Dench
Dame Judi Dench has responded to media speculation that she is going blind. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

Actress Dame Judi Dench has revealed that she is battling for her eyesight, as she is diagnosed with macular degeneration, a condition that could result in loss of vision.

In an interview to the Daily Mirror, the 77-year-old "James Bond" actress said that she could not even read the scripts because of the trouble in her eyes.

She said: "I can't read scripts anymore because of the trouble with my eyes. And so somebody comes in and reads them to me, like telling me a story."

"It's usually my daughter or my agent or a friend and actually I like that, because I sit there and imagine the story in my mind," she added.

She said that her mother too had macular degeneration.

The actress said: "I had wet in one eye and dry in the other and they had to do these injections and I think it's arrested it. I hope so."

She said that it was distressing for her when she could not even see the person with whom she was dining in a restaurant.

Judi is determined not to be beaten by her condition. She said: "You get used to it. I've got lenses and glasses and things and very bright light helps. I can do a crossword if it's bright sunshine but if a cloud comes out the next minute I can't see anything."

Judi plans to buy a digital book reader that will help make the words bigger. She said that she has no plans to retire and is currently acting in her 23rd James Bond movie with Daniel Craig.

Dame Judi won the best supporting actress award at the Oscars in 1998 for her role as Queen Elizabeth in the movie "Shakespeare in Love." She married Michael Williams, her co-star in John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi," in 1971. Williams died from lung cancer in 2001.

Cancer