Dame Judi Dench reveals why she won't call other half her 'partner'
Dame Judi Dench has revealed she hates the word 'partner' and will never refer to her other half David Mills as that.
'I have a jolly nice friend now. I don't know what the word is because I don't like the world partner,' she told Good Housekeeping. 'Partner is something to do with dancing. Partner – horrible word. Friend? No. Boyfriend? No. Chap? Will chap do?'
Judi's husband of thirty years, Michael Williams sadly died in 2001 of lung cancer and she has been with David Mills, a conservationist since 2010.
'He's not going to propose. No, no, no, no, no,' she said on the idea of marriage with David. 'Let's all just pull ourselves together and be our age.'
During the same interview, Judi also opens up about suffering with macular degeneration, an eye condition that causes you to lose central vision, usually in both eyes.
'I'm just dealing with it,' she admitted. 'Getting on with it. Doing what I can do. I have to be careful if it's too dark for me to see, I miss steps and things if I'm not told.'
'I'm not an avid diary keeper because I can't see any more. I used to be. I can't do any of that. I can't read. I'm going to start listening to audio books.'
But, at 82, she's still showing no signs of slowing down her incredible career. This September, she stars as Queen Victoria in the highly-anticipated film Victoria and Abdul, which explores the real-life relationship between Queen Victoria and her Indian servant Abdul Karim.
In November, we will also see her in Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express where she takes on the role of Princess Dragomiroff.
But don't go calling her a National Treasure, she hates the word.
'It's horrible,' she admits. 'I wish there was another word for it. A working, jobbing actor is better.'
Read the full Judi Dench interview in the October 2017 issue of Good Housekeeping.
From Good Housekeeping UK
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