Miriam Margolyes has made a worrying admission about her health and why she continues to work.
The 83-year-old has enjoyed a long and successful career as an actor, appearing in the likes of Harry Potter, Doctor Who and Call the Midwife across the years.
After a career spanning nearly six decades you'd think that Margolyes would have made more than enough to retire comfortably if she wished to - but it seems that's not the case.
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Opening up about her health in an interview with the Radio Times, the Professor Sprout actor explained that due to suffering from spinal stenosis she is worried about being able to afford adequate care when the time comes.
She had also had a heart operation last year, undergoing a procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in order to open surgery.
According to the NHS, spinal stenosis is a condition which causes the spinal canal to narrow - which then causes a compression of the nerves in the legs.
This can often make walking or standing for extended periods of time particularly painful.
Due to the condition Margolyes strives on being able to work for as long as possible in order to make sure she has enough cash saved up for herself and long-term partner Heather Sutherland.
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"I’m worried that I won’t have enough money for carers when I finally get paralysed or whatever it is that’s going to happen to me," she explained.
"I’m saving up cash so that I can pay people to look after me and my partner. We don’t have children, so I need to make sure I’m going to be looked after in the way that I’ve become accustomed."
The sobering admission isn't the first time that Margolyes has spoken candidly about mortality, with the star recently revealing in The Telegraph that she expects to die within the next few years.
Explaining why she refuses to stop performing despite being limited by her condition, Margolyes said she wasn't yet ready to leave behind the 'joy' of acting.
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"When you know that you haven't got long to live and I'm probably going to die within the next five or six years, if not before, I'm loath to leave behind performing. It's such a joy," she said.
Margolyes had originally planned to take on roles which featured a character using a wheelchair - however she is no longer sure she feels strong enough to be able to do this.
Despite the 'limiting and depressing' constraints of her age Margolyes refuses to give up work altogether.
She will next be seen in her BBC series A New Australian Adventure next month as well as heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Harry Potter
Brenna Cooper