Dame Judi Dench turns 88, reflects on finding ‘grown-up’ love with David Mills in her silver years
SURREY, ENGLAND: Legendary actress Dame Judi Dench "wasn't even prepared" about finding love again after the death of her husband Michael Williams after almost 30 years of marriage as she celebrated her 88th birthday on December 9. Dench met her husband Williams in 1971 while they were at the Royal Shakespeare Company and immediately fell in love with her. He asked Dench to marry him the same year they first met, but she declined.
She admitted it was the wrong time and place when discussing the rejection in an interview. She said, "Mike got a plane and flew out to see us all. It was a saving grace, really. Then he said, 'Will you marry me?' and I said, 'Will you please ask me on a rainy day in Battersea?' Then it would feel real. So that's what happened."
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The couple got married later that year and were together for roughly three decades until the actor died precisely three weeks before their 30th wedding anniversary. Williams was a successful actor who starred in a number of films, including 'Elizabeth R', 'Educating Rita', 'Henry V', and many others. Dench ascribed their marriage's longevity to "luck." Williams would occasionally experience "black dog days," according to Dench, but overall, he was the "most unselfish man" and they always had a terrific time together.
In an interview with BBC, Dench said that she might never get over Williams while talking about how it felt to lose him to lung cancer in 2001. She claims that losing a loved one alters the survivors' identity and creates a vast chasm in front of them, giving the impression that only an abyss awaits those who proceed. Dench acknowledged that despite passing time, living without Williams hasn't gotten any simpler. Talking about the experience, she said, "Unexpected kinds of things happen. Suddenly, you'll walk in somewhere, and there's a photograph or something. I don't expect you ever get used to it."
The star noted how she "wasn't even prepared" to be ready for meeting David Mills, a conservationist, who she began dating in 2010, adding, "It was very, very gradual and grown-up." The couple met at a new badger enclosure at Surrey Zoo and felt an instant attraction to each other. Although they don't share a home together despite being together for more than a decade, Mills and Dench have a happy relationship, as per Express.
As their relationship grew over time, Dench and Mills created a squirrel habitat at a wildlife center he manages close to their Surrey home. Dench had reportedly thought about getting married again, but she soon denied the claims. Explaining why she isn't likely to remarry, she said, "We are much too independent. And he is very busy. He has a business to run. But he is soooo lovely, with a great sense of humor. Now it’s absolutely wonderful because there’s somebody who makes me laugh. Isn’t it lovely?" Their relationship was a difficult thing for Dench to come to terms with initially, and inspite of being enamored with "quite a lot of men over the years," her relationship with Mills "never even for a single second occurred to me, not for a single second".