Judi Dench Opens up About Finding Love Again at Age 82

Famed British actress Judi Dench, 82, thought finding love again would never be possible following the death of her husband of 30 years, Michael Williams, from lung cancer. That is until she met her partner of nearly seven years, David Mills, 74, who owns an animal conservatory a few miles from her country estate.

“[It] never, even for a second, occurred to me,” she admitted of moving on. “Not for a single second. Although I was filming, I wasn’t in good enough shape [emotionally] to do something like that.” In a previous interview, she added, “I wasn’t even prepared to be ready for it. It was very, very gradual and grown up. We got together, in a way, through the animals. It’s just wonderful.”
However, after one romantic night, Judi couldn’t resist David!

Judi and David.

“One hot night during the summer, we swam and had a glass of champagne in the garden, and I said, ‘This is so fantastic,'” Jodie gushed of her man before admitting that she never really knows what to call him. “‘Partner’ is something to do with dancing…. Friend? No. Boyfriend? No. Chap? Will chap do? There hasn’t been a word invented yet. Somebody who makes you laugh and who you can go to things with and enjoy things with and have a lovely time.”

The two have a great time together, boyfriend and girlfriend or not. “He is so lovely, with a great sense of humor,” she enthused. “Now, it’s absolutely wonderful, because there’s somebody who makes me laugh.”

Judi with her first husband, Michael, at their wedding.

And today, she couldn’t be happier living life with David by her side. “It’s the little things that make you laugh or that you observe in something that you both laugh about,” Judi said. “I think that’s romantic.”

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