3 weeks ago
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It seems Dame Judi Dench’s parrot isn’t one for holding its tongue, despite being in the presence of television royalty.
The 89-year-old actress owns a rescue African grey parrot called Sweetie, but has revealed that the talking bird has some rather crude descriptions of her.
Dame Judi shared: ‘We had a long chat just now. You shouldn’t ask what she says. She says, “You’re a slut”, “You’re a slag.”
‘She has said “Boris Johnson“, but she didn’t get that from me. She listens to the radio. My God, she’s funny though. She’s very, very funny.’
Dame Judi added to The Sunday Times newspaper lovingly: ‘Everybody should have a parrot or a myna bird. Their voices are absolutely incredible.’
The James Bond actress’ love for her pet bird is well documented.
In 2022, she suffered a ‘frightful fall’ at her home in Surrey and was unable to get off the floor for 30 minutes.
After tripping on the carpet, she was left with no choice but to seek help in her parrot, given that no one else was around.
In conversation with Saga magazine, Dame Judi reflected on the struggles of maintaining independence as she gets older.
Alas, Sweetie isn’t much use in an emergency.
She shared: ‘I have a wonderful parrot who kept saying, “What are you doing? What are you doing?”
‘This is when you need a very convenient parrot who would phone somebody – but she didn’t.’
Fortunately, the screen legend recovered quickly, as she ‘just got up’ after half an hour.
Dame Judi lives four miles away from her partner, conservationist David Mills, 77, whle her grown-up daughter and grandson live nearby.
The TV icon celebrates her 90th birthday later this month but isn’t giving much thought to the milestone.
She said: ‘It’s just that you get a bit nervous when everybody says 90. I don’t want to think of 90 much; I’m going to think about (turning) 29.’
Dame Judi believes that she is ‘lucky’ to have made it to 90, as she reflected on the recent deaths of her friends Dame Maggie Smith and Barbara Leigh-Hunt.
The Iris actress said: ‘I think you’re lucky to be 90. My two great, great friends, Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Maggie Smith, have just dropped off the bough in the last four weeks or so, and that’s not good.
‘I’m able to at least get from A to B and walk about, and, golly, I’ve got a great deal to be grateful for.’
The national treasure suffers from age-related macular degeneration – a progressive eye disease – as well as hearing problems.
Having previously said she’s no longer able to see on sets or learn her lines by reading a script, she admits that she is concerned about the health worries she may face in the future.
The star, who has been acting for almost 70 years, said ‘it’s disconcerting when you’ve had quite good hearing all your life.’
‘If your eyes give up and your ears give up, I dread to think what’s going to happen next.’
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