Miriam Margolyes has opened up about her struggles with the condition spinal stenosis.
The Bafta-winning actor first spoke about being diagnosed with spinal stenosis – described by the NHS as “a narrowing of the spinal canal”, which can cause back pain – during an appearance on the podcast How To Fail.
“I can’t walk. I’m going to be in a wheelchair before I’m much older,” she told presenter Elizabeth Day.
During an interview with The Guardian, the 82-year-old elaborated more about her health issues, admitting: “I do feel a waning of powers. I’ve got spinal stenosis so I can’t walk properly, and many of my dear friends have died, so I’m conscious of time running out. And that makes me slightly hysterical at times because I want to try to do the things I have to do.”
Miriam continued: “I’m afraid of losing my physical independence. My feeling of disablement has made me make more demands because I get frightened. And that is a new thing.
“I was afraid of failure before. Getting bad reviews or not being employed. I think all actors have that. But now there is this extra anxiety.”
“The thing that scares the shit out of me is that I might have a stroke because my mother had one and I saw what it did,” she added, noting: “I’m irritated that I should be afraid. Why can’t I just go through and whatever happens, happens? Because you can’t do much about it.”
Back in the spring, Miriam was hospitalised when she developed a chest infection after a heart procedure to improve bloodflow.
During an interview with Vogue in June, accompanying her immediately-iconic cover shoot, Miriam also shared she was due to have a stent fitted, telling the magazine: “I’m not terrified.
“When you’re young, you never think about death. You just think about your next fuck basically. I think about death a lot… every day, for sure. Every morning when I get up I think, ‘Hmmm, another day,’ which maybe I wasn’t expecting.”
Elsewhere in her Guardian interview, Miriam reflected on her acting career – and had some typically strong words for a few of her former co-stars.