Dame Judi Dench has had a long, varied, and extremely successful career. The 80-year-old actress has held leading roles in everything from Shakespeare productions to James Bond films, and has won many prestigious acting awards. However, the prolific actress revealed in 2012 that she also suffers from an eye affliction called macular degeneration, which may eventually lead to blindness.

With an inspiring display of positive good humor, Dench revealed some of the ways she copes with her failing vision in the new issue of PEOPLE magazine – including reading scripts with larger type. “So, if six of us were coming in to read a sonnet they’d all have one piece of paper and I’d have two or three,” she said. “They’d think, ‘Why does she have a bigger part?’ when it’s all the same!”

Fortunately, Dench’s friends and loving family are there to help her out when she needs it. “I couldn’t go on the [London] Underground now without somebody because I couldn’t work a machine. I can’t see to do it. But fortunately, I get somebody to come with me,” she explained. “I’m not going to make it something that’s going to stop me.”

Dench is very close with her daughter, Finty, who is also an actress. Surprisingly, the Oscar-winning Dench said she often finds herself “starstruck” on the red carpet. “We’re always ‘oh, look at that!’ ‘over there!’ We don’t behave in grown up ways at all,” she said of attending awards shows with her daughter.

“Antonio Banderas came up to ask Finty for a light – well, I thought she was going to disappear into the ground! Shaking! Shaking!,” she added.

Although Dench was made a ‘dame’ in 1988 by Queen Elizabeth, she insists that people should not treat her any differently. “You’re exactly the same person and behave the same. No curtseying, no bowing!” she urged.

Dench is currently in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, also featuring Dame Maggie Smith and Richard Gere leading the all-star cast.